Hit Points Inflicted
Seremak launched into a Whirlwind attack against the five closest bats surrounding him. Two were killed outright, with the remaining three severely wounded. Two of those three dove in to bite at the warrior: one was promptly killed by the Fire Shield - Cold which Seremak had cast, the other bat survived and latched on to suck blood. Rai attacked another bat, damaging its wing. Two of the creatures snapped back at the dog, taking damage from the Fire Shield. One managed to latch on, the other was repelled in Grapthar's direction and promptly killed. Another bat bit Chaden, latching on to suck blood.
Nearly forgotten amidst the multitude of bats, the Fire Giant simply smirked. Edwin cast Bigby's Interposing Hand to hamper its boulder throwing.
The Fire Giant chucked a boulder at Chaden, but the Bigby's Interposing Hand deflected it harmlessly into the tower wall.
Two of the bats had latched on to Katriana and continued to suck blood. She attempted to knock one off, but could not dislodge it. Grapthar killed the other one. Chaden stabbed the bat latched on to her, also failing to dislodge it. She managed to dodge a second bat.
One of the remaining bats chose an easier target: Edwin. Lacking armor or dexterity bonus, the mage was easily bitten. Edwin ignored the bat, instead casting Fog Cloud centered on the Fire Giant's pile of boulders.
Seremak, having decimated all of the bats surrounding him, strode over to Chaden to slice at the bat attacking her. He inflicted a great deal of damage, but fell just short of killing it. Rai killed another bat nearby. The Fire Giant managed to hit Chaden with a boulder, bruising her and incidentally killing the bat. Chaden returned fire, landing a critical hit with her bow. Kaerick attempted to blind the giant using Glitterdust, but it resisted the magic. Edwin fired five Magic Missiles at the giant, further wounding it, while Grapthar kindly killed the bat which had latched on to the mage.
The sole remaining bat broke off combat and dove into the sea of fire. Several adventurers noted that it flew to roughly the same place as the first.
Edwin attempted to get the plan back on track by using Dimension Door to carry himself plus Seremak, Rai, and Grapthar across the open flames to the center of the far walkway. Unfortunately this just happened to be the exact center of a Reverse Gravity field projecting up to the next level of the tower. The four adventurers fell upwards through a previously unnoticed ten foot foot diameter hole in the ceiling. Seremak immediately cast Feather Fall (which also affected Rai), while Edwin managed to grab on to the edge of the hole to cling to the wall. Grapthar fell straight up out of sight, with Seremak floating more slowly behind him. Rai managed to land on the ceiling but immediately followed his master down the hole.
Though surprised at the sudden turn of events Chaden and Kaerick continued to shoot arrows at the Fire Giant, inflicting a little more damage with each hit.
Katriana, still in eagle form, crossed the gravity threshold and smoothly flipped upside down to descend into the hole in the ceiling. She checked on Edwin as she passed, still clinging to the edge of the hole with the help of his weasel familiar Pop. [Editor's note: Pop made a Climbing skill check to Aid Another, granting Edwin +2 on his own roll. Edwin would have fallen without this assistance.]
Edwin was not strong enough to climb back up to the ceiling of the fire level, and so continued to cling to the edge of the hole. He managed to invoke Dancing Lights, an innate spell-like ability for Gnomes. This created a glowing humanoid shape to draw the giant's attention, and later Edwin heard the satisfying crack of boulders targeting the phantasm.
Meanwhile Chaden and Kaerick crouched on the staircase. Chaden drank a potion to Cure Light Wounds and Kaerick cast another Cure Light Wounds spell upon her, healing nearly all of the damage from the boulder strike.
The Dinicythis keyed off of Katriana's sudden movement, and darted in to bite her severely. She managed to cast Summon Nature's Ally to call a medium sized water elemental, hoping to keep the fish at bay.
Edwin decided he would be better off dropping into the water than continuing to cling to the wall. Had he seen the giant fish he might have thought differently. As he was able to brace himself he took minimal damage on impact but immediately sunk owing to the weight of his robes and equipment.
Grapthar and Rai reached the shallows surrounding the island and pulled themselves ashore.
Still crouching on the staircase to the fire level, Kaerick cast a second Cure Light Wounds on Chaden to heal the remainder of the boulder damage.
Seremak managed to shout "Grapthar, bring a rope!" before sinking back to the bottom where, due to another failed Swim check, he made no progress toward the island. Grapthar grabbed a rope and waded back into the water. The Dinicythis decided to check whether Seremak was edible, biting him severely.
Edwin managed to get his bearings and try to swim toward the island, but was outmaneuvered by the prehistoric fish. Edwin was severely bitten.
On the Fire level Chaden and Kaerick popped up to shoot at the giant. Chaden hit once. The giant's flung boulder missed by several feet.
Katriana cast Hide from Animals, just about the perfect spell for the occasion. After letting it take effect on herself she swam out to simultaneously touch Seremak, Grapthar, and Edwin. Unbeknownst to the adventurers the Dinicythis succumbed to the illusion on everyone except Seremak.
Edwin got tangled up in his robes and equipment and simply floated in place. His uncanny gnomish constitution allowed him to hold his breath for a very long period of time, but would eventually fail him.
Katriana's summoned Water Elemental finally landed a hit on the Dinicythis, but did not phase it in the slightest. The creature had tasted blood, nothing else mattered.
Chaden hit the Fire Giant twice and Kaerick hit once. The giant flung another boulder, hitting Chaden in the leg. She shook off the pain and continued firing.
Seremak failed his swim check again [Editor's note: he rolled a 1] and made no progress. The Dinicythis bit him again.
Edwin failed his swim check and made no progress. Grapthar also failed his.
The Water Elemental missed.
Chaden hit the Fire Giant one more time with her bow, but was hit by a second boulder. She retreated back down the staircase. Kaerick missed.
Seremak failed another swim check, and so was only able to move another 5 feet. Unfortunately the fish was faster: its attack of opportunity knocked Seremak unconscious at -6 hp, while its second attack killed him outright at -28 hp.
Katriana and Grapthar managed to pull Seremak onto the beach. Rai ran over to sniff at his master's body, and emitted a piercing wail.
Kaerick grazed the Fire Giant with an arrow, but was then badly hurt by a boulder. She joined Chaden halfway down the staircase.
After four more rounds of combat, the Water Elemental killed the Dinicythis and returned to its plane of origin.
During this time Chaden and Kaerick healed themselves again, but when they ventured up from the staircase the Fire Giant was nowhere to be seen. Chaden cast Hail of Stone to target the area covered by Edwin's Fog Cloud, but had no way to know whether she hit anything. [Editor's note: it was realized afterwards that the Fire Giant had likely taken cover in the sea of flame. If one is immune to fire, it makes sense to take advantage of it.]
Postscript: notes for next game
(Repeating from a previous chronicle, perhaps of more relevance now):
There are two sentences in Kaerick's recollections of the history of the Ghost Gem which may be important at this point:
Stories say that the light of the gem ripped the life from the bodies of men and disintegrated their flesh to dust."Ripping the life from the bodies of men" sounds like a Will save to this humble Chronicler; appropriate buffs would be in order.They also say that he who controlled the gem could call forth numerous denizens to do his bidding.
Crumbling to dust sounds like a Disintigrate effect; a Wall of Force to take cover behind could be useful.
Summoned denizens implies there will be a portable horde to fight: Fireball early, Fireball often. Protection From Evil or Magic Circle Against Evil could prevent summoned evil creatures from attacking us, though we don't know that the Gem will always summon evil creatures.