Clearing the Cloud Giant Castle

When you have the players in your campaign fly to a Castle in the clouds you have to expect that they are going to want to keep it as their home base. With that in mind, I made sure that it was possible but very difficult to gain control of the castle. The players found that the magic controlling the castle was connected to the Elemental Plane of Air and was cloud giant magic. As such an identify spell was not enough to understand how to make things work. There is a metal band that clearly should fit on a Cloud Giant's head but it is much too big for a human-sized head. The players spent an hour trying things but did not manage to land on a solution.

Session 116: Control of the Sky Castle

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Alrix (couatl sorcerer), Aldus (human cavalier), Fenris (human thief NPC), Domago (human cleric NPC), Haddon (dwarf fighter).

The members of the adventuring party entered the cloud giant castle in the middle of the night. A battle with the cloud giants has ended in victory.

Joe Boxer, who recently was knocked unconscious by a cloud giant tells the rest of the group that he needs to meditate and rest. Haddon stays with Joe to protect him. The rest of the group heads down one level in the castle and walks across the courtyard in the direction of the gatehouse where they know more bugbears are on guard. Aldus and Eathwund lift down the enormous beam used to bar the castle doors. They look out onto the wooden bridge leading to the gatehouse and see the doors to the gatehouse are closed. Lakima sends the four bugbear zombies he animated across the bridge to draw fire. They get about halfway across before crossbow bolts are fired from barred windows in the doors.

Lakima casts a fireball and throws it across the bridge and into the gatehouse. There is an explosion and dark smoke pours out of the gatehouse windows. Under the cover of the smoke, Aldus, Eathwund, and Fenris quickly run across the bridge to the doors. Fenris shouts that the doors are locked from the inside. Lakima turns and asks Alrix to send Deost across the bridge to open the doors. Alrix instructs Deost who is still wearing the cursed Helm of Free Action. Deost runs across and uses knock to open the doors. The doors swing open and Eathwund and Aldus then rushes inside. At this point, only one of the zombies is still standing. Inside there are eight bugbears many of them badly burned. Domago steps onto the bridge and blows the Silver Horn of Valhalla summoning 4 berserkers. The berserkers from Valhalla immediately launch themselves at the bugbears. As Aldus and Eathwund join the fray they see two Hill giants emerge from the darkness. One strikes Aldus knocking him to one side. Alrix now flies into the gatehouse above everyone’s head and constricts around a hill giant and bites him.

Eathwund and Aldus bear the brunt of the fighting but Alrix holds off one hill giant and bites him a second time and this time is able to inject venom. The hill giant stumbles and falls dead. The rest of the badly injured bugbears are soon dispatched. The last hill giant, injured by Lakima and Eathwund asks to parlay. Lakima demands that he surrender and the hill giant stops fighting. The two remaining berserkers run up a flight of steps to the next level chasing an injured bugbear.

On the next level, they find 3 bugbears who are quickly killed by Eathwund and the berserkers. The remaining berserkers vanish when the fight ends. Eathwund and Lakima climb the ladder to the battlements atop the gatehouse and find them deserted. In the distance, they spot a cloud giant in a small flying boat headed away from the castle. Lakima guesses that this is the cloud giant female that they let escape.

Lakima interrogates the Hill giant who tells them his name is Brutus. Brutus tells them that he and his friend were staying in guest corridors on the third level of the castle. They were invited to work for the cloud giants but had not yet accepted. Brutus knows very little about the layout of the castle but he does tell them that there are quarters for little people on the third floor. Lakima asks Brutus to lead the way. Brutus proves helpful on the walk to the rooms as he has little difficulty opening the giant-sized doors.

On the way, they gather Joe and Haddon. On the third level, they find a large chamber in a tower with seven human-sized beds. The group decides to rest and tend to their wounds. Alrix is sent to the skyship to get the crew and the ship is maneuvered over the castle courtyard. The Hill giant who obviously is too big for the beds says he will go sleep in the room he was staying in just down the hallway. Lakima agrees he can go. Fenris leaves saying he wants to keep an eye on the giant.

Watches are set and the adventurers settle down. At this point, the sun is just starting to rise above the mountains.

Six hours later Eathwund and Domago are on watch. Eathwund hears Fenris yelling.

“Alarm!, Alarm, ambush, awake!”

Eathwund quickly wakes everyone. They check the hallway outside the door to their room and in the distance they see a troop of 8 bugbears ascending the stairs. Lakima casts a fireball into the midst of the bugbears. Several of them go down dead. Then Alrix uses his lightning breath and blasts the few remaining bugbears who are standing. One badly injured bugbear runs away. A few moments later Brutus and Fenris join them. Fenris says he heard the bugbears coming up the stairs and gave the alarm.

The group finishes off their rest and eats some cold rations. Lakima tries convincing Brutus to join the group. The hill giant says he will come along if they find some humans for him to eat. Alrix and Domago recoil in disgust. Lakima tells Brutus that he cannot eat any humans they find. He does promise to get Brutus back down to the ground.

Lakima questions Deost about where they can find the controls for the castle. He wants to learn to make it move. Deost tells them that Sazor did not speak to him much about it. He understands that the control area is in the tallest tower. He tells them that Sazor was not able to get entry to the room. Looking out a window they see the tallest tower across the open space. But they do not see any clear way to get to it.

The adventurers head down the stairs to the courtyard again and there they are surprised to find a company of six gnolls. The gnolls back away chattering to each other. Domago tells everyone that the gnolls are calling them giant killers and that they seem afraid. Lakima sends Domago to parlay with the band of gnolls. In return for their lives, the gnolls offer to free human prisoners. They take the adventurers down to a lower dungeon level where they find eight human prisoners working in a kitchen. The gnolls hand them over in return for a promise that they will be taken down to the ground.

Brutus leads the group up to the western battlements below the tower but they find only giant pigeons and giant hawk roosts. There does not appear to be an entry to the tower. From the battlements below the tower, Lakima can see that the large windows are open so he suggests they fly the skyship up to a window.

Alrix is sent to pilot the skyship. He comes back aboard the ship and settles it over their position on the battlements. Everyone boards the ship and then it is moved next to a window. Lakima, followed by Fenris, Eathwund, and Alrix leap down from the ship through an open window and land in the chamber in the tallest tower.

They find a stone throne facing an open window. Beside the throne is a glowing orb on an iron pedestal. On the other side is a metal lever. In the middle of the room is a giant table. They are unable to see on top of the table which is 10 feet high. Two enormous suits of plate mail armor stand in alcoves. Eathwund uses detect magic and tells everyone that the armor, the orb, and the lever are magical.

Lakima asks Brutus for a lift up onto the stone chair. Once he is dropped on the chair he finds a giant-sized gold circlet that also detects as magical.

Lakima casts identify on the circlet and orb and he is able to discern that the circlet controls the orb which is connected to the elemental plane of air somehow. The magic is strange to him, and he is unable to understand how to control the castle. From the stone seat, he can see the top of the table and he notes paper, lanterns, and a chest. Lakima asks Brutus to carry him over and place him on the table. Here he finds an open log book, a map of Valnwall showing the route of the castle, a locked chest covered in dwarven runes, an enormous battle axe, and several sheets of parchment. Fenris is lifted up onto the table by Brutus and he examines the chest. Fenris tries to unlock the chest and succeeds but a poison needle pierces his hand. Fenris is protected by the periapt of proof against poison and only curses the cut in his hand. In the chest, he discovers a fortune in diamonds.

The group spends an hour trying to figure out how to make the castle change direction. Lakima suggests smashing the orb, but Domago and Alrix point out that the castle is parked directly over a town below. In the end, Lakima tells Brutus to take the circlet. The gold circlet is too big even for Brutus and hangs about his neck like a necklace. Brutus tries smashing the orb at Lakima’s direction once everyone else is aboard the longship but he is unable to damage it. Lakima tells everyone that they should head down to Wolford. He is concerned that more cloud giants will arrive to claim the castle. They know from Deost that a wedding was planned to occur in a few days and a lot of cloud giant guests were expected. They take the ship over to the wizard’s tower and pick up the wizard Sazor Stratus who is still under the effects of Lakima’s feeblemind spell.

The skyship is crowded with freed humans and a hill giant descends down from the cloud castle spiraling down into the courtyard before the town hall. At first, the local militia is called out to greet them but they quickly put them at ease. Once Lakima shouts down to the crowd that the cloud giants are dead there is much cheering. The seneschal Glint asks them into the town hall. The strange group climbs down from the skyship. A few of the rescued humans are locals who greet family members. The hill giant Brutus scares the locals but they relax when everyone realizes he is currently not dangerous.

Inside the town hall, Lakima asks if they can go to an interrogation room. Sazor is tied to a chair in the room so he cannot use his hands. Lakima then removes his gag and dispels the feeblemind. Sazor immediately tries to cast a spell but finds he cannot without the use of his hands. Lakima asks Sazor many questions about the cloud giants, the castle, and the White Worm. Sazor does not offer much to the questions and seems unintimidated by Lakima’s threats. Lakima finally asks everyone to leave the room. Domago refuses to go until Lakima swears that he will not be the one to harm Sazor. Once everyone is gone, Lakima takes out his Book of Demon Summoning and draws a pentagram on the floor. Sazor watches in amusement. Lakima then tells Sazor that he needs to answer his questions or he will summon a demon to take his soul. Sazor laughs at this. Lakima then uses his Pendant of Demon summoning and summons a demon. A Vrock demon appears in the pentagram in a flash of fire and brimstone. The Vrock angrily tries to attack but finds it cannot. Eventually, it asks what Lakima wishes from it.

Lakima offers Sazor in return for the demon flying up to the Cloud Castle and moving it away from Wolford and crashing it. The demon suddenly produces a contract on a piece of parchment and asks Lakima to sign it. Lakima reviews the contract and sees that it does not meet his requirements. The demon then reluctantly makes the changes. Lakima then signs the contract and breaks the pentagram around the demon. The demon moves to attack but finds that the pendant is protecting Lakima. It then agrees to the bargain and flies out of the room. There is much screaming and confusion as the demon flies through the hall and out a window.

The rest of the company rushes to the room to find Lakima and Sazor both unharmed and still in a standoff.

“What did I expect, when we leave two wizards alone in a room,” Alrix says.