Well, after a number of missed sessions due summer vacations and the Great Blackout of 2003, we finally got back together and moved forward with the game - somewhat.

This session was to prove to be a bit boring for most of the players once the initial planning and preparation stage had passed. The bulk was taken up by Rusteen being buffed to the nines and then trying to take on two hill giants in single combat. The plan seemed to be a good one, as Zin had previously dominated two such giants and had commanded them to return to the chosen field of battle. So, Rusteen stood ready with his bow to slay the two giants in somewhat-cowardly single combat. Greymankle also stood ready, as he had "failed" a personal test earlier by not slaying a giant and thus he wished to try again.

Soon enough, the two giants appeared. As soon as Rusteen opened fire with his longbow, they opened fire with hurled boulders. Greymankle charged forward to take on one of the two, while Rusteen stood his ground and peppered the monster with arrows. However, a couple of things quickly went wrong with the general plan. First, Rusteen was a bit overeager in his desire to kill a giant, and broke the string on his bow. Second, the giants brought friends.

Just as Rusteen drew his sword and charged, three more giants and four dire wolves broke from the trees to attack him from behind. One of the giants went to help his fellow against Greymankle, while everything else went after Rusteen. At this point, Dr. Fever decided to help Rusteen out a bit by Entangling the reinforcements. This gave Zin enough time to Dominate the new giants to force them to "pick up a wolf and go home". (This idea really came from Twig, which Zin accepted with surprisingly little argument.)

As this left Rusteen with one giant, he was able to win - eventually. He did get knocked severely unconcious, forcing Zin to force a giant to sit and wait while Rusteen regenerated to fighting condition. Somewhat recovered, Rusteen was able to land some powerful blows which knocked the giant out, allowing the woodsman to slay the helpless creature.

NOTE: The battle with the third giant was glossed over as it was to take place the same day, so it couldn't go and get reinforcements. Given that Rusteen was able to beat one giant, eventually, the DM decided the outcome was a forgone, if painful, conclusion.

Greymankle, unfortunately, didn't fair quite so well. While he was doing fairly well against a single giant - trading blow for blow - the second tipped the scales in favor of the enemy. Once again, the monk was knocked unconcious. This time, he was picked up by the giant and dropped into a bag - apparently to be taken home and eaten later. Fortunately, Zin's mental domination was able to delay the creature long enough for Greymankle to regain conciousness and tear his way out of the bag and escape.

Once all the combat was done, the party decided it had had enough of Ysgard and quickly vacated the scene to seek more requested adventures elsewhere. Zin, Shazarr, and Jack decided to go and quickly get the "Paths of Virtue" task out of the way a visit to Mount Celestia. The githzerai choose to be the one to attempt to ascend the closest path. A per (a noble guardian spirit) welcomed Zin's attempt, but informed him that he could not travel the path as he was too heavy. After some thought, Zin realized that the comment was a veiled hint that he carried too many material possessions. After leaving everything behind, Zin was allowed to ascend the path and fulfill that part of Augustus' contract.

The next session will see the party venturing into either Arborea to work with the balance of nature, or else into the gatetown of Fortitude to help the Harmonium slide it onto Arcadia.

Authored by: Ken Lipka E-mail me: krlipka@yahoo.com

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