Sometime after midnight Emm and Zanax are keeping watch while the rest of you sleep, when suddenly they hear a crashing through the bushes close by and a pair of hill giants come charging into the camp!
Zanax turns invisible and stands.
"To arms! To arms! Giants!"
Emm exclaims, "Great, me and an invisible guy! I wonder who the stupid giant will attack first?"
Emm tries to attact the attention of the giants to give the sleepers time to get out of their jammies and into the battle. Emm will not attack, but only defend and dodge until the cavalry arrives.
The first two giants actually ignore Emm and move to attack the others, who are just waking up...unarmoured and seemingly defenseless.
The next pair converge on the man, though.
"I want the white meat!" says one of them.
"I get a leg!" says the other.
Emm dances away from one giant, who pursues him. The other one goes after less mobile prey, namely Robert.
Zanax moves to intercept the other two giants before they reach the waking party and lights up the two on Emm with Faerie Fire.
The paladin nails a giant with his cold sword, catching its attention. It swings a club at him but misses. Zanax swings again, landing a glancing blow.
Lo's eyes open wide when he hears the charge of the hill giants. He reaches for his pistol as a knee jerk reaction and then realizes he no longer carries the Glock he carried for years.
"Bastard!" he swears as he gets up quickly, shaking the sleep from his head.
Lo nocks a bolt and fires it at the closest hill giant.
His bolt nails the giant that is closing on Robert.
Badd grabs his sword and quiver in one hand, and bow in the other, and runs to hide behind a rock.
After being woken up by the crashing, Orlon starts to cast Blade Barrier, trying to catch the giants that are close behind.
Orlon finds himself facing a giant, who swings his club at the priest and misses. In the excitement he then trips over a root and falls down.
Orlon keeps casting.
Occa opens his eyes and looks irritated. "Damn them for waking me up!"
He casts magic missiles at giants, a spell into a different giant each time, hitting the giants on Orlon, Emm and Robert. He then casts lightning bolt up to twice.
Of course, he will move back a bit so as to not get in the fray.
Darian jumps up, draws his frostbrand and fires a round of magic missiles into the first hill giant that comes close.
His spell blasts into the monster trying to attack Orlon.
Thereafter, he attacks him with his sword, killing the giant.
Drandar is coming...sword in hand! The dwarf swings his glowing bastard sword at the giant chasing Emm about as he runs by, all but killing him.
Not to be outdone, Gonzo backs Drandar up, shouting, "KAAAARUMBA!"
Robert gets clobbered for 12 hit points as he jabs upwards with his bastard sword, burying it deep into the giant. From behind, Gonzo swings his flame tongue, and another giant drops.
Five more giants come barreling into view, just in time for the first of Occa's lightning bolts. Two of them take the brunt of it, leaving them sparking, scorched, and very mad.
An arrow shoots out from behind the rock that Badd is hiding behind, striking another one in the arm.
As the giants close a cloud of swirling blades springs into existence in their midst. Blood, fillets and miscellaneous limbs and giblets come flying out of the mass, as the two lead giants perish and the three behind stagger out blindly...just in time to step into the second of Occa's bolts, which obligingly blows them to bits.
Two giants remain, and they look worried.
Zanax continues his attack and uses his ring's spark ability on the giant he is facing. The sparks fry into the giant. The paladin avoids another swing of the club and then dispatches the giant with his blade.
The giant chasing Emm gives up on the running man and turns on Drandar. The unarmoured dwarf is hit for 12 hit points as Drandar connects with his blade and kills him.
Gilstrock, Malbar and Kairos snore on.
Searching the giants, you find a grand total of 36,000gp in their sacks.
The temperature continues warm the next morning as you continue your journey down the Greyhawk Road. An hour or so after setting out you come to another halfling town, Taff's Well. It is located near the mouth of the Udimore River where it flows into the Nyr Dyv after winding its way out of the Cairn Hills to the south. On the east side of the bridge you pause and read a signpost -
The Greyhawk Road: East: To Backfold's Keep, Hardford.
West: To Vaynor Border Post, Yardley and Greyhawk.
- and after crossing over to the west bank you see another signpost, as a trail heads south along the river at this point -
The Greyhawk Road: East: To Taff's Well, Backfold's Keep.
West: To Vaynor Border Post, Yardley and Greyhawk.
South: To Cadgwith Cairn.
Malbar keeps you riding west.
Soon after leaving the farmlands which surround Taff's Well the road winds back into the Cairn Hills, which come right down to the lake at this point. After a few hours, though, you find yourselves moving along the lake shore again, which at this point consists of a sandy beach. late in the afternoon you come to yet another halfling settlement, Elmshire, and soon after that, Vaynor Border Post, the official border of the Free City of Greyhawk.
This latter place consists of a small castle, in excellent repair. The fields about the border post are well tilled by a number of peasant families whose cottages are located near the gate. There is a small but prosperous looking inn here, named the Greyhawk House, where, after clearing Customs, you pause for dinner and a night's rest.