The party and the eagles have waged a pitched battle against the three giants and five ogres. Rimli, thanks to Barak-Nor's newly-revealed powers, has wrought a great deal of havoc amongst the offending giant-kin, but now, stopped in his tracks by the giantess' massive tree-trunk club, things are looking grave for the dwarf. Rimli: (standing his ground before the giantess, but just barely) Urg. giant#3: (brings her club up overhead for the death blow) Now, little thing... you die! Tasencia: Not if I can help it. (she starts spellcasting) Autumn: (notices and recognizes Tasencia's gestures and arcane mutterings) Hmm.... (she starts spellcasting) Ajax: Hang on Rimli! (he whips out his bow and fires an arrow at the towering giantess) giant#3: (all but ignores the puny dart) Alenniel: (aims at the giantess' eye and fires) giant#3: (unexpectedly jerks her head to one side, and the arrow whizzes past) Hrugh? Eagle: (hacks mightily at giant#1's heel with his shortsword) giant#1: (rubs his eyes and finally manages to clear his head) Ur? giant#2: (still battling the dust cloud in confusion) giant#3: (suddenly struck by a number of magical bolts of force from the two female spellcasters) Tasencia: (regrets that she had to resort to violence) Autumn: (ecstatic that her spell worked) Alright! giant#3: (realizes that the other six party members are a greater threat than the single dwarf before her) Autumn: Uh-oh. giant#3: (still feeling the sting of the magic missiles, she stomps past Rimli towards the party, swinging her club as she goes) Grarg! (she takes a swipe at Autumn) Autumn: Eep! (she barely manages to dive to one side and avoid it) giant#3: (her club strikes the rocky ledge and, due to a number of improbable circumstances, she loses her grip on it and it goes tumbling off the side of the mountain with a crash [read: fumble]) D'oh! giant#2: (swings blindly at the air, but fails to connect with an eagle) Greythur: (races to Rimli's side) Fharlanghn preserve him! (he begins spellcasting) Ajax: (looses a second arrow at the giantess, this time scoring a hit) Ha! Alenniel: (takes careful aim at her eye once more, fires, and actually hits) Ha _ha_! giant#3: GGROOAARR!!! (she clutches her eye and roars in pain and rage) eagle: (dives at giant#2, raking his head with its sharp claws) giant#2: (bats at the air uselessly) Ajax: (sees that Rimli seems to be in good hands, and takes off into the cave after the ogre) Don't wait up! Tasencia: Ajax! Grr.... (she gracefully makes her way past the wounded giantess and the other two giants to Rimli's side) How fares he? Greythur: He'll be alright. Rimli: (still feeling the power of Barak-Nor flowing through him) Lemme at 'em! (he takes off after the giants) Tasencia: (shaking her head) Dwarves.... Greythur: (hefts his hammer and runs off after him) Tasencia: (shaking her head) Humans.... Eagle: (stabs giant#1 in the foot) Take that! giant#1: Ow! (he glares down at the offending halfling) Eagle: Yie. Greythur: (smacks the still-confused giant#2 in the leg) giant#2: Hrug! (he pounds the earth with his club randomly) Greythur: Whoa! (he jumps back just in time to avoid being hit) Autumn: (flips a dagger at giant#3, but fails to do any significant damage) Rimli: (suddenly runs up from behind the giantess) YAAA!!! (with one swift blow, he finishes her off, then moves on to giant#1) giant#3: (cries out in pain, then stumbles and falls off the ledge after her club to her death) AAAAAAaaaaaaa.... *splat* Alenniel: Rimli's back! (he fires at giant#1, who is menacing Eagle, but misses entirely) Rimli: (slashes giant#1 with his heavy battle axe) Clangeddin! Autumn: (takes careful aim and throws another dagger at giant#1, hitting him in the throat [read: critical]) Yeah! giant#1: Glrg! (he fights in vain to stop the river of blood flowing from his neck) Alenniel: (follows her shot up with a success of his own, piercing giant#1's chest) giant#1: (staggers back, clutching at his throat) Blrg! giant#2: (snaps out of it and takes a shocked look around) Gah! eagle: (dives at giant#2, but is knocked aside by his club) giant#2: Gah! (he turns his attention to the humans that have nearly conquered his companions and servants) Ajax: (pads into the cave, bow ready, looking for the missing ogre) ogre#5: (leaps out at him from behind a stalagmite) Rarr! Ajax: (looses his nocked arrow at him, but, in his haste, he misses) ogre#5: Smash you! (he swings his spiked club at the halfling, but hits only air as his target nimbly dodges to one side) Ajax: (drops his bow, draws his sword, and steps inside the ogre's guard, driving his blade deep into the beast's abdomen [read: critical]) Though you could get away, eh? ogre#5: (staggers back, blood pouring from his wound, then returns the gesture with a vengeance) Gragh! Ajax: (suddenly possessed of an odd insight into how these creatures think and fight, he anticipates the attack, avoids it, the makes another successful cut of his own) ogre#5: Ack! Autumn: (draws her shortsword and moves in on giant#1, who, after Rimli's last attack, seems awfully wounded) Down you go! (she hacks at his leg with no noticeable effect) Greythur: (whacks giant#2 again, but fails to do any real damage through the giant's tough hide) Alenniel: (looses an arrow at giant#2 and hits him in the arm) That's right... leave the halfling alone.... giant#2: Raar! (he looks sharply in Alenniel's direction) Eagle: (takes advantage of the distraction to plunge his sword into the giant's heel, severing his tendon in the process [read: critical again!]) giant#2: (now barely able to stand on two legs and in excruciating pain) YAAARGGH!!! Tasencia: (clutching her quarterstaff, hoping she won't have to use it) Rao protect us! Rimli: (hacks at giant#1, then moves with astounding speed on to giant#2, whom he treats with equal kindness) Cragbreak'r! giant#1: Urk! (he has just about had enough at this point) giant#2: (between the eagles, Eagle, and Rimli, he is suddenly hurting pretty bad) Argh! Alenniel: (plants another arrow in giant#1, impaling one hand) giant#1: (panicked, he flails and stomps around, trying to crush just about everything in sight) Alenniel: Look out! Rogue giant! eagle: (screaming in triumph, dives from the sky to claw giant#1's eyes right out of his head) giant#1: (smacks the eagle with enough force to turn it into a bloody cloud of feathers) Grar! Tasencia: (seeing that giant#1 is too wounded and enraged to take much notice of her, she wallops him with her quarterstaff, for good measure) giant#1: (finally overcome by his wounds, he crashes to the ground, dead) Tasencia: (blinks a few times, then looks at her staff in surprise) I didn't know I had it in me. Autumn: Way to go, Tas! (she launches herself at giant#2, attacking beside Rimli, nearly overcome with the dramatic heroism of the moment) Have at ye, foul miscreant! (she misses) Damn. giant#2: (slowly realizes that things are going badly for him, but not enough to run away) Eagle: (swings at giant#2's foot, but the blow bounces off harmlessly) Alenniel: (lets another volley of arrows fly, hitting the giant in one shoulder) Give up, and we'll let you live! Rimli: Wha'? Not on yer life, lad! Greythur: (swings his warhammer, but is off balance and misses) Rimli: Och! Step aside! (he deals a mighty axe blow to the giant, then suddenly feels his weapon's supernatural power drain from him) Bloody 'ells! giant#2: (woozy, but still angry enough to be a problem, he swings at Rimli, striking the brave dwarf down at last) Gurk.... Rimli: Agh! (he falls to the ground at last, unconcious and badly beaten) Ajax: (strikes another blow for the anti-ogre movement, slashing the humanoid across his chest) Back, fiend! ogre#5: Gror! (wounded and humiliated, he drops his weapon, turns tail, and flees to the far side of the expansive cave, where there seems to be a fissure in the wall large enough for him to pass through) Ajax: Wait! I didn't mean it! (he leaps after him, catching up easily thanks to his boots, and strikes him down from behind) ogre#5: Urk! (stumbles and falls in a heap, still carried forward somewhat by his weight and momentum) Ajax: (puts one foot atop the ogre's corpse, raises his sword in the air, and poses for no one in particular) Mighty Ajax triumphs again! Tasencia: Rimli! (she runs to Rimli's side and begins spellcasting) Eagle: Hey! You killed Rimli! You bastard! (he strikes viciously at the remaining giant, puncturing his ankle) Greythur: (bludgeons the giant with his hammer) Autumn: (continues her attacks against the giant mercilessly) Alenniel: (fires another arrow at giant#2, hitting him in the chest) eagles: (claw the hell out of the poor guy) giant#2: (finally falls under the rain of blows with a heavy thud) Tasencia remains beside Rimli for several minutes, calling on Rao's aid with the full force of her faith. Beads of perspiration appear on her brow, but at long last the dwarf's eyes flutter open. Rimli: (weakly) Di' w'... di' w' get 'em? Tasencia: (smiling) Indeed we did, Rimli. The last giant has fallen. Rimli: (sits up abruptly) Wha'? An' I _missed_ it? Bah!