Session 21 Player Notes — Dungeon Crawling Hill Giant Stronghold Level 1

These are the players’ own session notes, preserved from the party’s game document. They capture the table’s perspective — what the players saw, did, and said.

Key Events

Party cleared rooms through the Hill Giant Stronghold, fighting giants, ogres and polar bears
Found letters revealing tensions between hill giants and stone giants, and a treaty being nullified
Caladin attuned to a magical floating shield taken from the chieftain’s room
Lyra was captured by an ogre and taken to the chieftain’s room
Lyra had another Kelemvor dream — judged her own soul and wrote rules for her return from death
Party used Wall of Fire to devastate the chieftain’s forces; session ended mid-combat

Session Notes

Exploring the Barracks

A huge horn rests, shattered on the floor in the centre of the room. An 18-spear rack is leaning against the wall by the door. A lot of the spears are missing. We all move into the room. The storm really starts to kick off. The room has spears, clubs and shields, along with the horn we’ve broken. Guts opens one of the doors, we follow through into a room with many beds.

Lyra looks through the beds. They aren’t very clean. There are some chests — four of them aren’t open. Lyra checks them for traps. They open and we find some copper pieces and odds and ends, and in the locked chest we find a letter written in Giant, some jerky, and 300 gold pieces.

The Love Letter

Lux casts Comprehend Languages. It’s a love letter. It’s pretty juicy and there’s some “not PG” stuff in there. It’s a letter from a hill giant to a stone giant. The letter seems unfinished. Caladin thinks the letter seems almost like it’s a valentine’s letter, and that these two aren’t actually dating but he’s concerned that he might never see her again. The letter implies that something strange is happening in these odd times. There is no signature on the letter. We get the feeling that the hill giants we met in the valley were from this fortress, and that is why there are missing spears.

The Captain’s Quarters

We head into a new room. There is a partially enclosed area in one corner — it’s a fancier room than the others, though there isn’t a door. There is a giant-sized pair of boots hanging along the wall with a sack of contents. Lyra finds 300 GP, and two gems worth 100 gold each. Lyra finds a second sack underneath the bed. There are some old human-sized helmets, a small deer emblem of the Enclave (like what Vordana belongs to). It seems to be a sack of trophies from his victims.

Arawn sees a shimmer, and Vordana’s head pops out of a cloak. Lyra gives her the sack of trophies. Vordana empties out the sack and she seems upset. “It’s my little sister’s. That’s why I’m here — I wanted to get her back.” She puts her invisible cloak back on. “Let’s just kill some giants. You left quite a blood bath back there.” She points out that the giant children have come out of a room.

Guts has a grammatical pondering about whether they are “Giant children” or “Children Giants.”

Vordana tells us that Serril has gone back to the hideout. She tried to call him on a message but there was no response.

The Giant Children

Arawn peeks a head out the door back into the hallway. He can see giant children coming out into the hall. Some are crying. Some are painting themselves with the blood of the pets we killed. It’s wild. We count more than 20. We sneak through a door across the hall, avoiding the children. We take a trip through another door, checking for traps but there is nothing. We do get the sense that the doors are very heavy. In combat it would take a full round to get through the door.

The Chieftain’s Bedroom

It is a lovely bedroom, and the bed has silk sheets. There is a desk in the corner, and a chest in the room. There are some clothing pegs, a thick chain set into one wall, an attractive shield hanging on another, and some used weapons in one of the corners of the room. We walk over to the desk. We find a large bottle of liquid, half empty. It looks like someone has recently written something.

Caladin and Guts do a rubbing over the writing paper, but they’re terrible. Lyra pushes them out of the way and takes over. The writing is in Giant, so she hands it to Lux.

The Chieftain’s Letter

At the bottom he can see it has been signed by the chief. It is a response to another letter, talking about not being someone’s jurisdiction: “We are under orders. We had a treaty. We have decided to nullify the treaty. What you do on your side of the mountains is your business. You may have an interest in the eye, but we have their company.”

Lux provides a range of explanations as to what the Eye could be. Lyra thinks about the bookshelf that could give us key books and the moon that came out of the arena which had shapes of eyes. Lyra begins to piece things together and questions their connection to the eye. Lux isn’t quite buying Lyra’s version of events, but he does acknowledge the strangeness of events that have been occurring.

The letter speaks of turf wars between the giants.

Lyra vs the Kitchen Giant

A hill giant walks around the corner, sits down and starts munching on a roast chicken. Lyra comes out, sneaks up the wall, onto the ceiling and drops down with her dagger. (She hits, 68 damage.) The giant falls and smashes into the table. She rolls off the giant into a superhero landing. As she lands she sees two giant children under the table. One of them has peed themselves, and the other looks like it is about to let out a giant wail.

Meanwhile, in the other room… Caladin pulls the shield off the wall and puts it on his arm. A gold shadow flutters inside of him. It looks good on him. A lightness envelops Caladin as he puts the shield on. He feels a little giddy. Lux tells him that it has magical properties and the process of attunement has started.

The red giant child (not the screamer) runs at Lyra. It grabs her and puts a hold on her, but doesn’t restrain her. Lyra kills both the children. There is some debate as to whether the little giant girl had a teddy bear.

“You Sexy Thing” is playing in the room with Caladin.

The music comes to a screeching halt as they enter the room with the dead children. Guts tells Lyra that the kids don’t count as a giant kill.

Vordana arrives and tells us that the door down the end of the corridor is locked. Alora Amathur walks out to the scene with the children, and is surprised that her halo has not disappeared. If anything, it gives a small buzz.

On the mantel there is a humanoid skull with a gem worth 500 gold pieces in the head. There is a brass jar on the mantel as well.

The Polar Bear Room

Guts pushes through yet another door. A polar bear lunges at him and mauls him (15 points of piercing damage). Guts reacts, striking out three times (hitting 3 times). 30 damage. The bear lashes out at Guts, but misses in its frenzy.

Alora Amathur casts Sacred Flame — 15 damage. Lux casts Fireball. It hits the polar bear. Arawn sees a hill giant and enters the room to inform the party. He then bonus action hides. Lyra attacks the hill giant. 68 damage. Caladin kills the polar bear with his sword.

Lyra Captured

Lyra was taken by an ogre and brought to see the chieftain and two other giants (his wife and an ambassador). The room is lined with hill giants, and there are several ogres throughout the room. Lyra is attacked by the polar bear and takes 29 points of damage. It attacks again, 15 points of damage. The chief’s wife stands up and attacks — 19 points of damage. She strikes her again. 17 points of damage.

Guts dashes back to the front of the group and sees the dead giant and ogre. He hears another growl from a polar bear.

Lyra’s Kelemvor Dream

Lyra casts Spiritual Weapon against the wife. 21 damage. Arawn moves forward and sees the ogre over Guts’ shoulder. We see a mist form. Lux sees a fog cloud obscuring the view and casts Hypnotic Cube. Caladin ran forward to the group.

We see a door explode out towards us. Lyra wakes to the place where she goes in her dreams. She sees herself and [[Kelemvor]] passing judgement on Lyra. There is a door to the left with her family, and a door to the right with a raging battle and [[Reeny]] leading the ranks. She looks over and recognises you. “Lyra! Come in — it’s fun! I’ve missed you!” As she stabs into a pit fiend.

Lyra feels instability. Reeny grabs the blade in Lyra’s hand. A blackness starts whisping against the blade. Kelemvor: “It looks like you have to overcome yourself.” Lyra grabs her other self and throws her towards her parents. “You know we have more to do. I have a lot riding on this down on earth.” The other Lyra looks at her: “Who are you? Don’t touch me.” She doesn’t recognise her and tries to throw her back into the line. Nat 20. There is a moment of recognition in her eyes.

“You’re going to be safe.” Lyra forces her through the door and it shuts. Kelemvor looks to her as he is processing his paperwork. “Well that was far more entertaining when Jergal (author of the end of everything — the god of death before Kelemvor) did it.” He pulls out a book and a chair and taps the seat. “I think you need to write a chapter on where and how you return. Write the rules, my dear.”

Back to the Fight

Alora Amathur shoots an arrow to where she thinks the ogre was. Swings her Spiritual Weapon — 14 damage. Arawn shot into the mist and did 12 and 11 damage somewhere…

Vordana steps forward. “I have a way to get rid of the fog. But do we want to go in there? It feels like they’re not coming to us.” Lux says he can sense something in there. Vordana casts Gust of Wind. Wind gushes down the corridor. We see the ogre with two Arawn-style holes in its head, right between the eyes. The chief’s wife also has some injuries on her head where the Spiritual Weapon hit her. The wall covering the entrance to the hidden stairs is also broken.

Lux casts Wall of Fire. Polar bear is killed. Ogres are killed. We hear absolute destruction of the giants. They aren’t dying, but they are certainly not happy.

Caladin turns to his shield. “We’re going to make it through this.” The shield slips off of his arm and floats in front of him. It’s a good feeling shield. He relays to the group that he cannot hear Lyra.

Guts slices at the ogre and does 48 damage. He takes bludgeoning damage from an ogre that body slams him. The ogre then slips and lies prone.

Alora Amathur — Sacred Flame — 19 damage to the grey giant. Spiritual Weapon grey giant — 10 damage. Arawn shoots into the flames (with disadvantage). It’s like shooting fish in a barrel.

Caladin does something.

Guts swings three times — all times hit. He kills one of the giants. 8 giants!

Alora Amathur — Guiding Bolt against gaseous form + 29 damage. Moved Spiritual Weapon towards gaseous form.

Guts hits once. 7 points of damage. Opportunity attack on an ogre with Spiritual Weapon. 26 damage. It stumbles towards Caladin, swings but hits the shield. He stumbles backwards into the fire. Caladin reacts with Hellish Rebuke.

(Session notes end mid-combat.)

Items & Loot

300 GP + copper pieces and odds and ends (from barracks chests)
Love letter written in Giant (hill giant to stone giant)
300 GP and two gems worth 100 GP each (captain’s quarters)
Sack of human-sized trophies including a deer emblem of the Enclave (given to Vordana)
Chieftain’s letter about nullifying the treaty and “the eye”
Humanoid skull with a 500 GP gem (from the mantel)
Brass jar (from the mantel)
Magical shield (attuned by Caladin — floats and has golden properties)

NPCs Encountered

[[Vordana]] — revealed her little sister was taken by the giants (found her emblem in trophies); has an invisibility cloak
[[Kelemvor]] — appeared to Lyra again; asked her to write the rules for her own return from death
[[Reeny]] — appeared in Lyra’s death-dream, fighting pit fiends and having fun; missed Lyra
[[Jergal]] — mentioned by Kelemvor as the previous god of death (“author of the end of everything”)
Hill Giant Chieftain — author of the treaty-nullifying letter; encountered in the throne room
Chieftain’s Wife — attacked Lyra in the throne room
Ambassador Giant — present in the throne room with the chieftain

Notable Quotes

Guts: Is it “Giant children” or “Children Giants”?
Vordana (finding her sister’s emblem): “It’s my little sister’s. That’s why I’m here — I wanted to get her back.”
Vordana: “Let’s just kill some giants. You left quite a blood bath back there.”
Guts (to Lyra): “The kids don’t count as a giant kill.”
Reeny (in the dream): “Lyra! Come in — it’s fun! I’ve missed you!”
Kelemvor: “It looks like you have to overcome yourself.”
Kelemvor: “Well that was far more entertaining when Jergal did it.”
Kelemvor (to Lyra): “I think you need to write a chapter on where and how you return. Write the rules, my dear.”
Caladin (to his new shield): “We’re going to make it through this.”