In which our heroes ...

Orhan 1 Day 12 TE 6064

Imre putters around with his drug empire.

Orhan 1 Day 13 TE 6064

We also get our Mahari Ridaen ratings stuff ready...

Oathar's Laen Staff

IV, x2 damage

III, crit -1

II, quarter staff, Trident

I Staff +5 on top of +25

Orhan 2 Day 12 TE 6064

We finish our long term plans and get back to adverturing.

We're hanging out in Quellbourne when Andraax poofs in. He explains how he was never around to talk to us, because he's been here talkin gto us at this time.

He asks if we've gotten any giants recruited yet. He's dissappointed. He gives Oathar a vision of a starship production planet. He should like that.

In any case, Andraax tells us to get our stuff, as he will take us to the giants.

Then he teleports us to the shore of an island. It's tropical. It's got a large peak dominating the center of the island. We're off the coast of Merliss, south of Follen. Hey! This is where the Storm Giants of Shaal hang out.

Orhan 2 Day 12 TE 6064

Alynna wakes up as a Thief this morning.

Neela hates these storm giant because they are always sitting at the big person's table. They get drunk a lot and go out with Shaal and throw up storms and they'd hurl rocks and whales and things, and cast Ice Law,, Water Law and Wind Law up to 20th level, etc. they'd have huge two-handed weapons and smash boulders into powder and wear big chain suits and shields and sometimes they'd cause ships to wreck themselves and then they'd eat them. OK, they're carousing maniacs. Oathar assumes Captain Jack Sparrow.

They start hiking up the mountain and get tired, so Oathar calls a party break.

As we get to the top, we encounter some really large buildings and then a *really* large castle. When we are seen, a bunch of giants show up.

Apparently, the great Shaal predicted that they could come here. They welcome Oathar and give him their hospitality. Come, and we will have a feast. Feast! We hope you like large women.

They don't like men much, but Shaal told them we're coming.

After the feast they clear everything away. Very well, it is now the time to discuss. They will send 25 of our giants to help us fight. In return, Oathar will build Shaal a great temple just a large and grand as the one you built Neela. Oathar sends Haeraan off to see what the giants got, while he temporizes. A giant demonstraits boulder crushing. Then he demonstrates charging. They charge 650 feet per round. OK, that's fast.

Oathar agrees, but the temple can't be in either Selkai or Kaitaine. Shaal then communes with them, and offers DOUBLE OR NOTHING! They win, we build two temples. We win, and we either build no temple, or build temple and get twice as many giants.

Tests: 1) whack a puny human, 2) arm wrestling, 3) blamch, 4) crushing things, 5) storm generation.

Oathar, hopped up on mead and carousing, accepts!

The tests commence!

Alynna starts with Whack-a-puny-human. She has to pop up in these holes and if they see her, they will whack her! The first couple rounds, they don't see her, but on round three, they attack! Ouch! That's a 75CK attack! Imre sends in some spell trickery and Alynna heals a little before missing the 5th round! Ouch, another one! 85DK! Then, the every popular 95EK hit in the seventh round! Somehow, she stays up during these. though and lasts the 10 rounds! VICTORY #1!

Next is Arm Wrestling staring Haeraan! Haeraan assumes Kyrik's skills, but is disappointd to find he only has a couple of ranks. Then the arm wrestling begins. Skill versus Skill. Haeraan psyches himself up. In the first round, Haeraan is ahead by 8. In the second round, the giant takes the lead back by 5. In the third round, Haeraan sets off a strength spell to double his STR bonus. He tightens up the lead so he's only down by 3. Sadly the next round doesn't go so well, and Haeraan is down by 24 points teetering on the edge of destruction. They both have a sucky round and get up to down 21. Then OAthar inspires Haeraan saying he'll go the 50 giants route rather than the no temple route. Now he's 16 up! In the next round, Haeraan drops his lead down to +2. Then Haeraan pulls the thing back up to +15. Haeraan drops another adrenal strenght roll and goes for it in what should be the last round! But the giant put on some heroic efforst and Haeraan only pulls it up to +21... Suddenly he gets an arm cramp and drops back down to -3. Finally Haeraan pulls it out and slams the other guy's down! VICTORY #2!

Then we go to Blamche staring Kyrik! Kyrik gorws to giant size, so he can lift the blamche hammer and the battle begins. Kyrik takes the lead, but punishing damage is coming in during the contest. It oscilates a bit and Kyrik takes and loses the lead twice more, each time receiving at least 40 points of damage. Oathar and Haeraan run some interference, and Imre tosses some spell trickery in to heal Kyrik on the sly. He takes the lead back and gets another heal, but then suddenly loses the lead and is down -16. He pulls up to almost even, taking more damage, but now he's starting to stagger on hit points. He's only down 8 though, so he pushes for a final massive blow. It's not quite enough, but he's up +14. Oathar cheers some more, Imre heal ssome more, and Kyrik pulls a little further ahead to +17. But then he blows it and falls back to +1. The final round does him a 60BK, but he manages to win! VICTORY #3!

Then comes crushing things! Who can crush the biggest boulder! Staring Imre! The giants are astonished that we sent in the smallest guy to the boulder crushing competiton. The giant crushes a 4-ft boulder with his bare hands. Imre spell masters a stone to dust spell and crushes it. The giant moves it up to 5 foot diameter. Imre does it again but not in a single shot. The judges mutter, but let it pass. The giant goes for a six foot diameter rock. It's close, but he manages it. Imre goes in next. The boulders are starting to get outside his volume limit so he has to trickily split the boulder in half and then destroy both halves. VICTORY #4

Finally, the giant chief comes and he and Oathar compete to summon the storm. Oathar starts out small and get a 76. The giant tops him iwth a 124. Oathar tops this with 140. The giant ups the ante to 165. The winds are getting a bit excessive with gales and rain now. Oathar pushes the storm up to 185. The sky turns purple an dfinally the wind settles. The giant goes next, and says, good puny human, but now you learn! He calls out to Shaal and gets a 195. The trumpets of the heavens open up and a giant hurricanes eye starts opening , but from the center of it descends a funnel crowd. Oathar gets the sense that he's being watched from the depths. He loses his lightning bolt from his staff holding it over his head and unleases a 253! Oathar is now standing in front of his own personal tornado. Shaal appears in the tornado and says, "DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE POWER OF THE STORM! YOU CAN NOT RESIST! YOUR FATE LIES WITH ME!! YOUR TRUE PATH LIES WITH ME!!! MY DAUGHTER DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THE TRUE MEANING OF POWER AND WEALTH!!!!" Oathar sees a vision of scatter treasures lying across the sea depths, 1000s of shipwrecks and deep underwater mines scattering the seabed. Sunk beneath the ocean are terranian installation and one intact althan domed city. "ONLY I KNOW WHERE IT IS. ONLY I CAN GIVE YOU ACCESS! JOIN ME AND THIS CAN BE YOURS!" Oathar suddenly knows there's an automated factory within.

Oathar shouts out at the tornado and says, "