Big Fight

 For our last session of Swords & Wizardry, we had a big fight with the Cloud Giants in the castle. The battle lasted most of the session. Coincidently, before the session, I had been talking to my players about how I did not like d20 because of how long it took to resolve fights. There was a fair amount of motion in this fight so it felt like things kept moving.

How long is too long a fight? At higher levels, some of these fights are going to last longer because everyone has more hit points. One Player character was knocked unconscious and two NPCs were killed in the battle. Several other player characters were near zero.

Session 115: Battle with the Cloud Giants

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Alrix (couatl sorcerer), Aldus (human cavalier), Joe Boxer (human monk), Fenris the Filch (human thief NPC), Domago (human cleric NPC), Boffin (dwarf fighter NPC), Haddon (dwarf fighter NPC), Fairfax (human fighter/werewolf NPC).

The heroes have entered the Cloud giant castle to put an end to the cloud giant's attack on the town of Wolford. After entering a tower, they captured the wizard Sazor Stratos and charmed his apprentice Deost.

The group decides to quickly and quietly cross the bridge to the platform on the side of the main castle. They all rush across. Joe and Fenris check the door to the castle which is unlocked. Lakima asks Deost whether the door is usually guarded.

“No. The lions are let out in the main hall at night so no one wanders there”

“Lions?”

Aldus tries to open the 26-foot high, 10-foot-wide door but finds he cannot budge it. Eathwund uses the power of his sword Wormbane to cast strength on himself. He grabs the edge of the door and swings it open. Inside they see a courtyard surrounded by a balcony. Moonlight shines down into the courtyard. Lakima spots movement and sees a lion slowly walking away from them.

Alrix volunteers to scout ahead while invisible. He turns invisible and has to assure Deost that he has not teleported away and left him. Alrix sneaks down a hallway and steps beneath the balconies. He sees three lions walking in his direction. One lion sniffs the air and growls menacingly. Then all three lions bound in his direction. Alrix retreats quickly down the corridor and yells that the lions have his scent and are right behind him.

Three lions spot Eathwund and Aldus on the platform and run forward to attack. Eathwund is able to block a lion’s attacks with his shield but Aldus is clawed and bitten before he can get his sword in the way to parry. Only Eathwund and Aldus are able to get at the lions but they are able to dispatch the beast with a few blows. Two more lions join the fight. As they are fighting them, they see three gnolls and two bugbears running across the courtyard to join the fight. The last, wounded lion flees the fight, and Eathwund and Aldus meet the gnolls and bugbears in the courtyard. Domago blows the silver horn of Valhalla and summons four berserkers to help them. The loud sound of the silver horn can be heard echoing throughout the castle alerting everyone in the area.

Fairfax enters the courtyard and tries to drop the fleeing lion with arrows but he misses. Aldus, Eathwund, and Alrix (who is using his Sword of dancing), down the gnolls but one bugbear escapes and flees across the courtyard to a pair of enormous double doors. Lakima shouts for them to stop him thinking he will alert others. Domago and Fairfax head to the left around a pool of water in the center of the courtyard. Everyone else heads right following the escaping bugbear. Lakima takes the time to raise 3 bugbears from the dead and then follows.

The bugbear opens a door and runs inside a protected area with everyone following Joe in the lead. As they pass through the door, they see the bugbear across a large chamber opening one door of another double door – this time to a bridge that is outside. Clearly the bridge to the gatehouse. Meanwhile, as they are running Domago and Fairfax come under fire from bugbears on the balcony above using crossbows. As they pass the wounded and bloody lion, Fairfax transforms into a werewolf and attacks. Domago keeps running.

Back in the chamber leading to the bridge, Lakima enters and sees the wounded bugbear rallying a large group of bugbears from the gatehouse. Lakima pulls out his wand of lightning bolts and casts a bolt of lightning that strikes and kills seven bugbears. Their blackened corpses litter the wooden bridge. Aldus runs out the door onto the bridge and kills a bugbear who was hiding behind the closed door. Then he comes back inside.

Lakima urges him to close the door to the outside. Aldus closes the door and he and Eathwund struggle to lift an enormous wooden bar onto the door to keep it closed. The door to the courtyard is still open and Eathwund hears pounding footsteps from across the courtyard. A pair of male cloud giants each more than 25 feet tall enter the courtyard from an entrance. One giant hurls a boulder that slams into the building near the doors.

Alrix and Lakima simultaneously cast fireball spells that blast into the two cloud giants. One giant is caught in the open and goes up like a torch collapsing to the stone floor. The bigger cloud giant, one they guess to be the leader because of his elaborate helmet ducks behind a stone pillar and avoids much of the blast. He retreats to the north through a passage.

There is a momentary pause in the fighting. Fairfax appears at the door covered in blood both his own and that of the lion he killed. Lakima tells Domago to heal him. Domago is reluctant to get close so he taps Fairfax with his staff of healing from a distance.

Lakima waves at Aldus, Eathwund, and Joe and tells them to check the doors to make sure the area is safe. Joe opens a door and finds a closet full of weapons. Aldus and Eathwund open two doors and find a weapons store and a sitting area with ogre-sized tables and chairs. They do not see any threats. Eathwund moves back to the door that leads out to the courtyard and scans the area. He sees more bugbears with crossbows taking up positions on the balcony above. Then he sees four cloud giants – two male and two female. They look down at him from the balcony.

Lakima tells everyone that they need to head for the next floor up and he will provide cover with a globe of darkness. Once the spell is cast, he tells them to use the cover and run for the exit that the cloud giant used. Lakima casts the spell and a globe of darkness provides some protection as everyone else runs across the open courtyard. Deost takes this opportunity to hide in the closet they found. Lakima stays behind protected by his three undead servants.

As they are running across the courtyard, they come under fire from the bugbears but none of the crossbow bolts hit them. Joe gets way out in the lead and enters the corridor which leads into a circular staircase heading up to the balcony. Once on the balcony, Joe hides in the shadows and sneaks into a nearby room as the cloud giants have their backs to them. Fairfax ascends next and charges directly into a male cloud giant from behind trying to claw and bite him without success. The giant turns around and crushes Fairfax to the ground with a single blow.

Down below Lakima uses the wand of fireballs and strikes all four giants on the balcony. Alrix transforms into his true couatl form and flies out into the courtyard. He uses his lightning breath to blast a female cloud giant. The rest of the company begins climbing the stairs. Lakima runs and hides in the globe of darkness. The cloud giant clan leader picks up a large stone and hurls it into the globe of darkness – it clips Lakima in the shoulder spinning him around and into the wall. Lakima hastily runs back into the shelter of the room behind his undead minions. He casts another fireball hitting a number of the bugbear crossbow wielders. He also tries to magic jar one of the female giants but he does not succeed.

Alrix flies up to the balcony and bites and constricts around the waist of a cloud-giant female. The woman bares her teeth at him and strikes him back. He injects poison but it does not seem to do anything to the giant. The leader of the giants a short distance away yells in anger as the female giant is bitten.

Aldus and Eathwund make it up the stair and see poor Fairfax lying crushed beneath the feet of a male giant. They both attack. Alrix is injured and decides to escape down to the lower level but first, he tries to pull the cloud giant over the railing. She is too strong for him and he is forced to let her go. Eathwund is punched with a huge fist by the cloud giant and he staggers back in pain. But Domago is there and casts cure serious wounds on him and he is back in the fight. Alrix flies into the circular staircase above the heads of his companions and flies out on the second level hovering above Eathwund and Aldus. He casts magic missiles at the giant who staggers backward and falls.

Joe fires arrows into the back of a young cloud giant woman out on the balcony. She turns and strides into the chamber but is unable to find Joe hiding under the bed. Joe fires again and hits her in the knee. She drops down to her knees and reaches under the bed looking for her attacker but Joe sneaks back into the darkness. With the cloud giant woman down at his level, Joe runs out from under the bed and tries to deliver a killing blow to her head. The cloud giant spots him and moves back and he only hits her arm. Then her other fist comes down on Joe’s head and he is knocked unconscious. 

The Cloud giant leader attacks Aldus and is kept at bay as Aldus expertly parries blows with his shield. Eathwund manages to stab the leader, then Alrix bites him and Aldus delivers the killing blow. At this time Eathwund sees a sixth cloud giant – a smaller male approaching to attack from the left leading a band of bugbears. The two dwarves enter the melee and Boffin is promptly crushed by the uninjured male cloud giant. Aldus and Lakima shout at Domago to blow the horn and Domago angrily curses at them telling them that he is busy fighting for his life. He does find a moment and blows the horn. Three berserkers appear behind the bugbears and attack.

Down below Lakima casts confusion on the bugbears. The spell works but the bugbears redouble their attacks on the company and even increase their ferocity overcome with madness. The two cloud-giant women attack Aldus and Eathwund. But Aldus kills one with his sword. The other runs into a nearby room where Joe lies on the floor. She slams the door shut behind her. Eathwund stabs and kills the last cloud giant on the balcony. Without their leader, the bugbears become disorganized but fight with a feral madness. They are all killed one by one. All of the summoned berserkers also fall. Lakima crosses the courtyard and joins everyone on the balcony.

Lakima goes over to the door and demands that the cloud giant female surrender. She asks to parlay telling them that she has their friend who is still alive. Lakima tells her that they are taking the castle for the white worm. She tells him that they must work for Sazor Stratos and that she never trusted him. She asks to speak to Sazor, not a mere underling. Lakima claims that they killed Sazor and are agents of the white worm. The cloud giant laughs and says that they are lying for the cloud giants were working at the white worms’ behest. Lakima congratulates her on telling them important information they did not know. The cloud giant eventually agrees to turn over Joe and depart. She opens the door holding Joe and demands that they keep their distance. She carefully sets Joe’s body down and then leaps over the balcony railing. Everyone rushes to the railing and sees her gently float down to land in the pool. The pool is only a wading pool for the giant and she strides through it to exit at the far end and walks out the doors in the direction of the gatehouse.

Domago runs to Joe and finds he is still breathing. He prays for healing and Joe is soon revived. Domago then moves to Fairfax and finds the werewolf is crushed and beyond healing. He finds the same for Boffin. Haddon cradles Boffin’s head in his lap and bemoans that he promised his sister he would look after her son. He says that his sister will be crushed when he breaks the news. Alrix tells him to cheer up, Domago can still bring Boffin back from the dead. Domago looks up from bandaging Eathwund and lets out a weary sigh.