The Glass Cannon Podcast - Giantslayer Episode 142 - Reconnaissance Man

Episode Date: February 13, 2018

Having located the secret giant training camp at Skirgaard, the heroes must quickly devise a plan of action on how best to proceed. For more podcasts and livestreams, visit glasscannonnetwork.com. To become an official member of the Naish, subscribe today at http://www.jointhenaish.com. Want to be a part of Glass Cannon Nation? Follow us at twitter.com/glasscannonpod instagram.com/theglasscannon facebook.com/glasscannonnetwork tiktok.com/@glasscannonnetwork Get the best apparel and gaming accessories in the biz at https://glasscannonnetwork.com/store If you enjoyed this, we have several other series featuring Call of Cthulhu - Time For Chaos Delta Green - Get in the Trunk Pathfinder 2E - Glass Cannon Live! Strange Aeons Pathfinder 1E - Legacy of the Ancients Traveller - Voyagers of the Jump and so much more! Join us every Thursday night for Campaign Two of The Glass Cannon Podcast – a playthrough of the Pathfinder 2E Gatewalkers Adventure Path! Videos premiere on YouTube Thursday nights at 8PM ET with a companion podcast available at midnight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Earn the points. Share the journey. With the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card, earn up to 50,000 Aeroplan points. Conditions apply. Offer ends June 3, 2024. Visit tdaeroplan.com for details. This episode is brought to you by Secret. Secret deodorant gives you 72 hours of clinically proven odor protection. Free of aluminum, parabens, dens dyes talc and baking soda it's made with ph balancing minerals and crafted with skin conditioning oils so whether you're going for a run or just running late do what life throws your way and smell like you didn't

find secret at your nearest walmart or shoppers Drug Mart today. And weigh their options. You, the players, can do literally anything you want. As the surveillance begins. This is a very important piece of information you're about to get. Oh, that's it! Yes! How you use it is up to you. Oh no. And the risk becomes real. Can't be traced back to sabotage, that's the main thing.

Right. Go on high alert. The reality of Skiergard sinks in. You'd say there's probably 40 to 50 human slaves here. And the plan of attack begins. So how do we want to start? The adventure continues

now. Friends, family, complete and total strangers, welcome back to the Glass Cannon Podcast. I'm Joe O'Brien, and man, oh man, am I excited for what's ahead for you on this week's episode. Last week we had a magical beast of a visitor just pop into our old campsite and reveal what's really going down in Book 4. We really got a glimpse of the adventure ahead. And it was so exciting. To finish up that session. And then the anticipation going into this episode. Was just awesome. We are looking at a mission of infiltration.

So much more dangerous. Than Red Lake Fort. And I'm not worried at all. Because our characters are perfectly balanced. For this challenge up ahead. So we're good. I will let you get to the episode in one minute. But of course, as always, I just have to update you guys on a couple things really quick. One is that our good friend, friend of the show,

Kayvon Edifa is running a GCP Midwest event on March 24th at Atomic Empire in Durham, North Carolina. Troy mentioned this event last week, but what he didn't mention, what didn't come through until this week, is that he, Troy LaValle, is now going. That's right. If you want to meet Troy, do a little gaming, and get him drunk enough to tell you the secrets of the new Starfinder podcast, Durham, North Carolina is the place.

Just go to glasscannonpodcast.com and look under the events page there for more information on that event. Secondly, and then we'll get to the yep, I want to talk about the most precious resource that we have in our Giant Slayer campaign, bottle caps. We have been giving out collectible bottle caps to Patreon subscribers at the bottle cap tier so that you guys can use bottle caps featuring unique GCP art in your games at home. Well, I'm here to tell you that as of March, which is the one year anniversary of the launch of our Patreon, we'll be producing an entirely new season of Caps for you. Bottle Cap season two is coming, you guys, with all new artwork that will range from Giant Slayer to Disorganized Play to even, you guessed it, Starfinder. I cannot wait for you guys to see them. They're going to be out so soon. Get excited. All right, with that, let's get back to the action. It is the 100th week anniversary of my intro for episode 42. So why don't we celebrate it with a full episode of the GCP? Here it is,

everybody. Episode 142. I want to kick off this week's episode with a fun memory from the past. And then I want to hear from Skid and Joe and hear one of your memories. I was just thinking about this right now. We're recording on a Sunday afternoon. And I remember, like, as a kid, this would be a time when I would play when I was, like, 13. It was Sunday afternoon after church. Buddies would come over, and we'd play a little dnd second edition and i remember uh the my gm at the time created this whole scenario based on the song hotel california

so it was like a dungeon crawl through uh but the dungeon was a hotel and i didn't know the song at the time because i i didn't know the eagles i didn't know any music like that and so he was he would like the the guy at the desk was like you could check out anytime you want but you can never leave and it just disappeared and i was like i have no idea what this is but this is amazing and uh the whole dungeon was built around that song i wish i could replay it now that i know the song uh joe you got any good uh old school uh dD memories? D&D. One of my favorites is, and this is not in detail of the game, which I don't remember that well. I don't have a great memory for like exact game sessions. But for one of my friend's birthdays when I think we were in like sixth grade maybe, we specifically around D&D, a D&D second edition, we had an adventure that was already going on. And we set up, his

dad had like an eight man tent. Like for like hardcore family camping. And we set up this huge tent in his backyard and had like a fire pit and played an adventure

all night long. Like we started at, you know, 7 or 8 o'clock and went probably until 3 in the morning outside, sitting around with electric lanterns inside the tent playing. It was one of my favorites. And still to this day, since we started playing Pathfinder again, I was like, I just want to get all my adult buddies to a campsite in the Catskills and play D&D all night long.

The closest we got to that was the retreat in Cape Cod. That felt kind of like it. We were just going to play all night. Then we drank ourselves out of the game. Yeah, exactly. That didn't happen in sixth grade. You were just drinking Cokes. A little too much Fun Dip, maybe.

But that's about it. Skid, I'm sure you have a plethora of classic memories from your attic days. Oh, sure. Yeah, I remember, like you playing on sunday afternoons and like you our afternoon started at 11 a.m which is when we're playing right now but i was actually thinking in the shower this morning what we did in the attic like there was a there was a floorboard that was missing for some reason and uh so we decided to it's like let's get some beer and we like we we hollowed out this area

under the floorboard we hit our beer in there so i remember it was uh it was miller miller gold was it was it was gold genuine draft miller genuine draft gold it was this big brand at that time in like the mid 80s mgdg yeah i can't remember the exact brand but it was i'm sure it was garbage beer because it like disappeared from the market very quickly but we didn't know it didn't know any better and i'm sure it was much better like in a 90 degree sitting under the floor of a 90 degree attic for like weeks at a time but um so we would take it and then we'd hot we had it there and we pull it out when we drank it's like oh we take little sips. He, he, he, he. And like pass it over. But my friend Chris was, he was a little more hardcore than the rest of us. And he would like drop acid while we were playing.

A little more hardcore. Where are the parents? Colorado. He was on acid one time. He came up, we're playing. And he was kind of like wandering on the attic, and he found the box of Christmas decorations. And while we were playing, he started stringing up the Christmas lights everywhere. And we're looking at him, and he's just like, just keep going.

And they stayed up, and it was awesome. Very Stranger Things. We were so excited because like when he was done you know the movie platoon had just come out like that's we were obsessed with it and we're like wow it looks just like the bunker in platoon this is so awesome it's like that's like that was something to aspire to but uh but we so i was drinking the beer it was a right on the table and chris went down he had some suspicious behavior because he was high and my mom like followed him up he's like hey are you guys do anything up here i chris

i oh that was i smelled beer on chris's breath he said that his parents let him drink beer at home and that's where he drank it but are you drinking beer up here we're like no no and it's just like all right well look if i find out you're drinking beer like it is over buddies like that is it it's like i'm watching you like a hog. I mean, there is a bottle of beer sitting right in front of both of you. And either she willfully ignored it or she just, like, was not able to see it. Well, she'd also never heard of that ridiculous brand of beer. That's not beer.

That's garbage. If you have any actual beer up here, I will be so angry. But I was thinking about that's not beer. That's garbage. If you have any actual beer up here, I will be so angry. But I was thinking about that this morning. The reason I bring this up is because, and I've said this before, one of my favorite parts of playing as a kid, because my GM would just draw the map. There were no grids. He would just draw it with pen and paper. We had papers all over the place. And I really felt like you could do anything paper. We had papers all over the place. And I really

felt like you could do anything. That was my favorite part of the game. The reason I got back into it when Joe got me hooked again. And this to me, Skier Guard is a perfect example of you, the players can do literally anything you want. And I've got to find a way, both what the book has given me and in my own creative mind to come up with solutions for the problems you put out there on the table. So I'm sure you've had a week now to look at this map. I don't know if you guys have talked with each other. I don't think you have. And I like that. I thought about like having you guys talk before we did this off air, but I'm like, well, that's no fun. I want to hear the process.

You guys have done your own research of looking at this map, so talk to each other. Talk to me. Where do you go from here? Well, I mean, I think I mentioned hopefully people have had the chance to look at this. Really, I mean,

this might be my favorite piece of Pathfinder art. Yep, it's mine. Yeah. In a week, it's become mine. Yep. It really does look like happy holidays. They could put happy holidays across the top of this thing, and I would be fine mailing it out with a letter every year. Yeah, actually, that's the greetings from Skiergård.

That's so great. But there's this copse of trees in the upper right-hand corner of the area overlooking what looks like fields being tilled. Either that or it's like an amphitheater. Yeah, but if you look closely, Matthew, I think you'll see little tiny people working the fields. Listen, Skid, I'm just hoping the Giants have a theater culture. That's all I'm hoping for. Why are you shitting on my dreams? We all desperately want that, but I'm just saying we have to be realistic. And this is a perfect example.

This is another piece of this map that I did not see. And I have been looking at it for days. It's like Where's Waldo or something. Well, it reminds me of the landscape of the Fall of Icarus, the Peter Bruegel the Elder painting. Exactly. If there are any art heads out there. God, thanks for robbing me of my revelation. Sorry about that.

Well, yeah, it's interesting, the tiered production fields that you do on these mountainsides i mean this is reminiscent of the andes i mean this is how like the the incas and stuff farmed it's like those tiered levels uh because they had to they just had to do it on the mountainside and it's so weird it's all surrounded by snow but then there's enough green in there to i guess to produce food for these armies yeah i think the food part is a crucial part of this whole siege. And that's why I'm trying to look at their inroads and outroads and finding ways to disrupt that travel to maybe cut off their food supplies. Yeah.

I mean, that's going to be key, but I think one of the virtues of skids plan is that we can sit up there for a little while and just gather knowledge of all of their movements, where their food comes from, where their supply lines are, what their guard patterns are. So I'm with you on that. That's good.

Yeah, I was thinking, so I was saying, like we should sneak in, you know, in our various methods of doing so, set up a camp inside that copse of trees overlooking that field and just kind of work our way outwards from there. Just like start by investigating what's closest and just keep moving out.

But I mean that copse of trees is farther into the camp from – I assume the southern part of the image is where we would be coming from. Right, where that mammoth – where that giant riding a mammoth is. Yeah, so that cop... Now, mind you, this is... Feyraza went up there, came back, and is giving you this description, basically. So when you guys come up there,

you'll be coming up from the south. Right now, you're still at your base camp. Right. So on the other side, the cops is farther up the mountainside. We would need to know what's on the other side of that. Like, is that scalable behind it? Or do we have to walk through the camp to get to it? Well, there's another

way. A magical way. Skid can teleport. Not yet. Not yet? Never mind. Great idea. I gotta level up first. I plan to teleport, but not yet. Go kill some more frogs.

Yeah, let's just level up in the forest. Well, never mind. You're on your own. No, I mean, we would have to sneak in past your guards. But once we're in, we're in. It's just like, it's not, there's nowhere closer that's much closer that would be past the guard towers yeah i mean that's that place might be a little too far to get to easily but it might also be easily the best vantage to see everything so yeah it's a good spot well i

mean i can you've got here just see one, it looks like 11 watchtowers spaced throughout the village. All precariously placed. So Lork definitely wants to do recon just on the outer rim. The watchtowers that are watching the road in and out and stuff i mean for at least a couple days straight just to get a sense of how many guards are in the watchtowers when they change shifts uh and who's coming in and out if we get some answers there it might be easier to sneak past and just get over to the you you know, to the copse of trees like that to set up a camp. Yeah, and I think knowing when they're unmanned is crucial

because I'm thinking back to being on the Chellish Devil when someone could be in the crow's nest as a lookout and they got a circumstance bonus to their perception checks for what's out there. I imagine that same mechanic is going to be in effect for something similar for the watchtowers. For those in the watchtower. Yeah. Those were the days, huh?

Stable mocking? Stable mocking? in effect or something similar for the watchtowers for those in the watchtower those are the days huh stable mocking stable mocking sorry I could also cast fly twice so I could for example cast it on Pembroke myself and Baron we could fly around the back of the mountain come into the trees that way for Isaac and

wild shape into something and then Lork or you your stealth is high enough that you might be able to just get in on your own i can also give you air walk oh there you go and if femur has the ability to make you invisible you could just walk up it's true um well if you look at that the central watchtower that's furthest down the mountain to the south there's one in the middle that looks like it's overlooking the training of troops and kind of the road. If you look slightly down into the left of that, there's a couple of large trees. I wonder if Lork was able to sneak up there and climb one of those trees, he could just sit in a tree for eight hours. Just remember, you're not green anymore, so they're going to see you in that tree.

I think that he could hide in that tree and not be seen by these giants. And look at the training and the one watchtower. Are you referring to the trees that are directly behind the targets of all the archers? It's a little uh you gotta look at it to scale that a stray shot would present an issue or if they saw you you have 60 archers aiming their time to go log in that tree right there right oh dear oh dear um no it's jazzy mule's cousin don't cut him down it'd be like the end of a quantum leap episode oh boy oh boy No, it's Jazzy Mule's cousin. Don't cut him down.

Be like the end of a Quantum Leap episode. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. I love Quantum Leap. Me too, buddy. Me too. Old Dean Sockwell. I mean, I fully support you scouting ahead, at least a little bit.

I love the idea of us coming from different angles at it. Like skids playing coming up. That would be fun. But it is splitting the party. The other concern I have, this being a high enough level in the game, fourth book, is I'm wondering. There's got to be some creatures in there that are really magical or high level that might be able to see through some of our subterfuge. But it's a calculated risk and one we have to take. Yep. And don't forget, and Faraz can tell you this, once you get up there, you're going to have to deal with cold and altitude. So prepare yourselves accordingly if you can.

For every hour, you will have to roll against those two things. Once again, cold can give you nonlethal damage. Altitude can make you fatigued. Does the spike – what's our shelters? Once again, cold can give you non-lethal damage. Altitude can make you fatigued. Does the spike – what's our shelter's – what's it called? The spike hut? Does it provide any cover from the elements? It's just an illusion.

Yeah, so there's no shelter whatsoever. Yeah, okay. But we could pitch a tent or whatever we would normally do inside. I'm pitching a tent right now. Oh, God. I'm just excited. Oh, dear Lord. I'm a little fired up. Yeah, I think we could definitely fashion a crude shelter and put the spike over it or something.

But yeah, okay. So how do we want to start? If you're going to go observe, Farazza will volunteer to keep an eye on you from the sky in case something goes wrong. Aerial cover? I feel like it will. Okay, cool.

I think Lurk would love to get up there and climb a tree and watch the watchtower that's overlooking the entrance road and the training camps just to kind of see what kind of giants are training, who's training them, what weapons are they using. Are you talking like these trees right here down the bottom? Yep. I mean, obviously doing – You're going to get a good view of the watchtower and the lower camp, at least. Right. And that's what I'm looking for.

And I think if he's able to get up and in the tree and just slowly climb it, I don't think anybody's going to see him. These look like thick pines. I think he'll be all right. It might be tough to climb. It might get a little sappy, but... Yeah.

All right. So you're going to make your way up the mountain with Arctic Turin at your back. What's your climb, Joe? I didn't think about that, Matthew. Neither did I. Thanks, Matthew. Damn it, Matthew.

I'm going to buff you. My climb. Just rolled a natural 20, by the way. I'm going to keep that for my first perception roll against Laura. Pass. I just have to get these rolls out of the way because I'll forget. What about Cat Benatar? He's got to leave her back behind

He's going to kill her and throw her off the mountain Stay Stay Give her to the Stay, Cat Give her back to the Borrello Yeah He's going to be

He's putting a call to the Borrello All right, here's your cat It's like returning a foster animal It's like, I don't think I can take care of this You were right I'm not ready I wasn't prepared His climb is plus nine

So he's going to be fine Climbing a tree Climbing a tree That has handholds and whatnot. I think that's DC 10, so you're fine. Because I can give you certain grip for 10 minutes a level. I don't think it's necessary. It should be DC 5.

I mean, if climbing a rope is DC 5. I love all these druid spells. Certain grip. The one I was just looking at before, by the way, is climbing beanstalk, where you basically plant a beanstalk and it instantly grows. It's an easy, a DC5 climb check. Climb the beanstalk. Wow. I'm just thinking of Super Mario levels now, where the beanstalk comes up and you climb up to the clouds.

All right, so you're going to head up the mountain with your little Arctic-turned friend following you. Yes. I'm going as an owl. Thank you very much. As an owl. Thank you very much. As an owl. And I'm actually going to bring Cat Benatar, but I'm just going to tell her to stay kind of nearby and just sort of alert me if anything goes wrong. Such a dumb, dumb idea. Dude, she's very stuck.

Are you really bringing Cat Benatar with you? Yeah. Is she going to climb the tree with you as well? No, no. Going to stay far away from me, but near enough to come over and alert me if there's trouble. So you're going to stealth into a camp covered in white snow with a black leopard. I love it. It's a wild animal.

He's going to put himself right in front of 60 archers. You want to build a time machine? Out of a DeLorean? I think he can do it. I think he can do it. All right. Very dumb. Okay. Troy thinks he can do it. I think he can do it. All right. Very dumb. Okay.

Troy thinks he can do it. Troy wants him to do it. Sure. My favorite thing is killing your animal companions. Don't kill her before we figure out what kind of stupid personality quirks she has. That's true. We haven't quite figured it out yet. All right.

So you begin heading up there with this little owl. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo little owl. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo.

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Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo.

Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo.

Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo.

Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo.

Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo.

Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. Hoo. to need you to roll a stealth check. Oh, shit. This is an important roll.

This is such an important roll. Let's not let Joe do it. I didn't realize the whole book hinges upon this roll. Well, that's the thing. If it's only one of us, then just one of us has to die. The mission can continue just without Lork. There we go. 37. 37.

37. Where's Lork? Seriously, you could do a Where's Waldo with this painting. Where's Lork? All right, so you get up there. You're fine. Cat Benatar needs to roll a stealth check as well, unless you are leaving her behind. All right, I'll leave her behind.

I just meant, like, she's not going as close to the camps as I am at all. When I say leave behind, it might be, like, another copse of trees an hour away or half an hour away or something like that. Yeah, something like that. You guys have a divine connection. If you want her to come, she'll come. Yeah. All right, so you are able to get to the tree that you wanted to get to. But now, if you're looking at this, you're on a lower plateau here.

So you actually can't see shit until you climb this tree. But once you climb this tree, if you are able to, you will have a pretty good vantage point on everything that's going on. However, I need you to roll first a save against the cold because it's a solid 38 degrees up here that's right that's right okay and what is your uh bonus for this roll uh my bonus is 15 okay so as long as you don't roll a one every every hour you've got five hours where you're going to be safe but where it is a saving throw a one is an automatic fail. It goes up by one every hour? One every hour, yeah. Okay, first save on the cold.

Got it. Okay. Now I need you to roll for altitude sickness. Now part of my bonus for the cold check came from the cold weather outfit, but obviously I don't get that. But I have the endurance feat as a ranger, and I get a plus four to my check versus hot and cold environments. I don't know.

It doesn't say anything about altitude. But would that extend to altitude? I don't think so. Pathfinder's pretty good about saying what they mean. Saying what they mean. And it's funny. You know how each feet tells you what the feet is, and then it tells you what's normal without the feet? The thing it focuses on is that you don't get fatigued when you sleep in heavy armor you know what i mean plus there's a feat called

altitude affinity which endurance is a prereq for which gives you a plus two bonus against survival and that altitude so i'm gonna say no yeah let's definitely know okay uh so then altitude affinity yeah i have i have that. You do? Yep. Liar. Yep. Dirty liar. I took it. I sure did. Pembroke grew up in the mountains. All 8th level wizards get that as a free bonus.

Okay, cool. Yeah, so I think looking at this, just looking at the numbers, that goes down. My plus 15 becomes a plus 6 against altitude. So he's almost certainly going to fail that. This is why I prepared Life Bubble and then I just forgot to give it to you. How long does that last? Hours, right?

Hours. Matthew forgot. Well, I mean, odds are you're going to fail this at some point, but let's see if you're going to be fatigued the first hour because it will affect your climb check. That's right. Crap.

Okay. Roll. DC 15 with a plus six. Fail. Fail. Okay. So you are fatigued. He is fatigued already.

You can't run. You can't charge minus two to strength and dex for, I think, for checks. So awesome. I feel like Lork has, he's been here before. He's done this. It's so awesome. I feel like Lork has been here before. He's done this. He's gone through this. He might have acclimated in the past. And he's like, oh, I forgot how tough it is without the thin air.

It's also your new body. Yeah, exactly. It doesn't have as high constitution. It's not as hardy. Yeah, that's not just a check. That's a minus two penalty to strengthen decks. It takes eight hours to remove that. Oh, my God.

That gave me a minus four to my stealth. You want to know the bonus? Because you suddenly became encumbered. Oh, that's right. Now you don't have to roll altitude anymore while you're up here. Oh, nice. You're welcome. Great.

You're welcome. What a treat. Well, I'll tell you what's great is it has no effect on my perception. Okay. But it does affect my climb greatly. Well, climb that tree, buddy. What's the DC? It's DC 5, right?

DC 5 with handholds? Yeah, probably DC 5. Okay, I got a 20. All right, you're fine. All right, so he slowly climbs up this tree to a height at which he could perceive these giants. What do you want to see? Okay, so I mainly want to look at the watchtower

that's overlooking the path up to the front, to the entrance to the city. There doesn't look like a great city wall or city gate or anything like that. There is like a main-ish road, but there's like three roads that kind of converge into one. Yeah, and I think for the most part, it seems like their defense is just watchtowers.

There's no wall built. I think it's because they're like, who's going to come all the way up here and then mess with us? Right. When we're on higher ground. Army of champions. What moron would fly? Exactly. All right, so Lork's going to climb up this tree.

Maybe a magical elf will climb a tree and look at us doing whatever we're doing. That happened at the board meeting. It's like, will you get out of here? That guy's fired. A magical elf. That'll never happen. You paid me to think about the things that we couldn't think of. I use words like synergy.

All right, so you're up the tree. You want to look at the watchtower or you want to look at the groups of people? I can tell you right now, the camps, you're going to have to watch that for a few hours if you want to gain intel on that. I intend to be up here eight hours minimum all right luke lork is gonna plant himself like a hunter in a tree and just sit and watch for most of the day let's talk about the watchtower okay oh what's happening all along it oh oh oh there's the title. This solitary watchtower, you see there are a number of them, almost a dozen, is enormous by human standards. It consists of a wooden hexagonal platform supported by six poles, each the size of a large tree.

A large hut sits on top of the platform. Underneath, there is a sloping ramp that becomes a staircase that climbs right into the center of the tower, into the hut. Make sense? Platform, hexagonal. I said hexagonal. I meant hexagonal. Six poles, a ramp that leads to a staircase that leads into the hut. But there is also a platform around the hut.

And on that platform, you see a frost giant. I was hoping they'd have the scrubs in the watchtower. One single frost giant is all you see for the first hour of you watching. If you're just keeping intently like going back that you never see a second one sometimes he'll go inside of the hut sometimes he'll come outside of the hut and he just keeps watch up there he'll go around and around you are up high enough to see that on the railing that supports the platform, there is something

tied to it. Roll a perception check. Oh, shit. Is it a gibbet? Gibbets and gravy. 38. Ooh. It looks to be a skyrocket. What? What is that?

What? It's a skyrocket that could be lit and will fly off. Oh, like a flare. Like a flare. Wow. Okay. The whole city will know we're here. Oh, my God.

If you fall out of that tree, the whole city. This is Metal Gear Solid. Yeah. Awesome. Okay. Let me make a stealth check. Does a box appear over here? This is Metal Gear Solid Yeah Awesome Okay So You make a stealth check Does a box appear over here?

Do you want to stealth up there And take him on solo? No, I'll just shoot him from here Fire No, so Alright, so a skyrocket warning system One frost giant And for hours

He doesn't change That's just the first hour Oh, sorry That's just the first hour Need you. That's just the first hour. I need you to roll another Fortitude check. Oh, right. Against the cold. Against the cold.

DC 16. Made it. Okay. On the second hour, again, just keeping a watch over there. And he seems to be by himself. In fact, if with your perception, you can see the other watchtower in the camp also contains one solitary frost giant. I'm sorry, by the camp, you mean... The lower camp.

Where they're training. Yeah. Okay. If you see, there's a watchtower near the lower camp. Yep, I see it. And a watchtower, actually three watchtowers around the upper camp. Oh my gosh. Okay?

But both those towers that are closest to you appear to have one single frost giant. Okay. And what are they armed with? Are they armed with great bows? Or just axes? Great axes and big-ass composite longbows. Oh, man. Yeah, so they're going to be able to, if they spot you, attack from range,

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dairy okay so what about the the training in the camps they're training with composite long bows and and axes and stuff you see now really focusing in on the camps, these enormous hide tents littering the landscape here. And they're erected in wavering lines and interrupted in places by large fire pits. The snow around there is all, like, mixed with mud and flattened to the ground from the heavy footfalls of this small

army that is gathered here. Even in the open air, from where you're standing, it stinks. Pungent smell of unwashed bodies all in close proximity with each other is too strong for any breeze to diminish for more than a moment. So you're smelling it from all the way up there.

Looks like there's an upper camp and a lower camp roll a perception check okay uh natural one 26 okay that's enough actually uh it's dc 23 the ladder the lower camp now that you're studying, it looks like it has some sort of obstacle course that appears to be a crude rendition of a human settlement. Like they're training giants to tactically take down the cities of the small folk. Got it. Wow. That's the lower camp?

The lower camp. Okay. And what giants are training? Are they all frost giants? They're frost giants. They're hill giants. They're cave giants, as well as a handful of ice trolls and even more exotic types such as cyclops and eddins. Oh, wow.

Oh, man. And they're all mixed in? All mixed in. Obviously, any attempt to directly attack the camp when it's so populated would be certain death. Absolutely. Sorry, Troy, it looks like there's symbols on these tents. Is there any way that he could see those and maybe identify them? Yeah, maybe in the third hour for sure.

With that 26-year-old, it's not enough. Good call, though. Some of the tents have painted symbols on them. Oh, my God. I just noticed the caves with, like, the blood underneath the people. Like, what the hell is going on there? That's what I want to know. Yeah, there's, like, a ramp up into the cave wall, or the cliff wall, and there's caves in the wall.

Between the lower camp and the upper camp, there's a little ramp that leads up to four cave openings. Are they wild animals out front of it? Well, not wild, but just beasts of some kind. I can't tell what they are, though. And remember, too, the painting that we're looking at, those animals aren't always there 24-7.

Oh, no. Don't hold me to this painting. I regret giving it to you. Alright. There's a giant on a woolly mammoth Oh, no. Don't hold me to this page. I regret giving it to you. All right. There's a giant on a woolly mammoth leading eight prisoners just standing outside the camp for hours and hours. All right. Hour three. Roll another fortitude check.

And you're just flying around up there. And are you safe from altitude and cold? That's what I was going to ask. Like, if I've wild-shaped into an animal that is natural to this environment, I would at least get a bonus to my check, right? One would think you would get some type of bonus. I'm surprised that in the description of the animal it doesn't tell you, oh, and you also get a plus two. Well, it tells you what your native environment is. Sure.

Oh, what is your native environment? Cold mountains. Cold mountains, yeah. That's tough. Like, when you take on the shape. I don't know, actually. I don't know for an owl that was the term. Oh, what is your native environment? Cold Mountains. Cold Mountains, yeah. That's tough. Like, when you take on the shape... I don't know, actually. I don't know for now that was the term. Right, right. Do you retain those things? You know, I just don't

know enough. I've never played a druid. Let me look it up while we're doing this. But to answer your question, what I think Faraz will do is fly like leisurely, in a leisurely fashion, over to that copse of trees on the right side of the map, the one we were talking about making our eventual camp. Way, way up top.

And just kind of scoping it out as a possible vantage point. Just use an owl to do the tree. Sure. You're going to fly right over the archery range, right? That seems like a good idea. Choo-choo-choo-choo-choo! A couple of arrows flying at you. We're going to get you to your checks in a second. Looked up the

fortitude and altitude. I would assume you have to roll them, but you tell me. Yeah, like when you wild ship into a fish, you have to bring in the drowning mechanics and roll for that every turn. Oh, skid. Oh, skid. I'm the only one defending animals on this podcast ever. You are the foremost defender of animals. You're the druid.

You should pick up some of the slack're the druid. You should pick up some of the slack here, druid. This is a good example. You gave me so much shit last week when he came flying over and I didn't want to describe the village because of dark vision, but the reason I was doing that was so I could give you this sweet map the next day. I know, I figured it out.

You're ruining Christmas for everyone. Sorry. I can't get over how much I love the idea of this as a Christmas card. I'm totally in favor. This should be the GCP Christmas card next year. We definitely have our Christmas greetings from the GCP. All right. So while he looks that up, while Matthew looks that up, Joe, I need you to roll your third hour of.

I made it. You made it. Yeah, 31. Okay. Against the cold. So you're really looking at this camp and what do you want to know what do i want to know um i'm testing the fences for weaknesses uh i'm trying to see i i guess i also i also have somewhat of a vantage of the main road that's up into the camp

so i kind of wanted to also look at that and see if there is new things coming every, you know, this day in and out, or if for a large part of the day, nothing comes, you know, up that main road into the village. Sure. But let's talk about the camp itself. Oh, okay.

Yeah. Stop deflecting. Sorry. It's hour three. You've been looking at this thing. What do you want to know? I want to know if there are any spats, if there are any giants getting into it,

if they have to pull apart any fights between any giants in particular, or if they're all in complete order at all times, if there's any particularly lazy ones that are getting kicked around, or if they're failing at the testing ground.

You know what I mean? If there's any particular species of giant that's failing more than others. I'm really picturing an NFL training camp when they bring another team in for the week. Yeah. Totally. Roll a sense motive check. Natural one. Awesome.

Great. Awesome. Really awesome Great Yeah you can't quite figure out What's going on with the Giants You know In terms of

Come on with the natural one Two in a row Two in a row In terms of comings and goings up the main road You see What you see on the map. You see a mammoth with a frost giant on it, dragging slaves behind it every once in a while. Occasionally, you'll see groups of giants milling about.

There are patrols. The patrols seem to consist of maybe some sort of trolls with wolves. Because Feyraza said something about this. I saw that. Now, the wolves are dire wolves, right? They're huge. They're of trolls with wolves. Because Feyraza said something about this. And that's when Feyraza saw that. Now, the wolves are dire wolves, right? They're huge. They're big-ass wolves. In fact, roll a perception check.

Oh, boy. Here we go. About the wolves, right? Yes. Go for the record. Natural seven. It almost looked like a natural one. That is a total of 28.

28. Those caves between the lower camp and the upper camp, occasionally wolves will come in and out of there. Got it. Go in there and don't come back out. Oh. Huh. Really? Yes.

Huh. Wow. Little wolf dens there. And there are four cave openings and from this distance the only thing of interest over there is it looks like one of the openings uh is much larger than the other three and do i see anything in particular going in or out of that um some wolves so they go in and out the same but one of them happens to be a large three of them can accommodate large creatures one could accommodate huge creatures oh i got you okay and there's there seems to be

in the image at least there's blood stains all over the snow outside is there um are they feeding on stuff out there at times or you'd have to get a little closer to figure that out got it go in the caves joe go in the caves uh i'm hearing you're going down the i'm just gonna walk straight through the training camp well i want to excuse me i want to get closer to these symbols on the tent so i'm going to walk up to the tent to look at the symbols. I'm just satisfying my curiosity. Go about your business.

You're still not 100% sure about those symbols. An appropriate sense motive check might be able to help you out with that a little more. Not a knowledge local? Hour four. Roll another check. Matthew, any news on druids? I can't find anything. I'm still looking. Okay.

Past. On the cold. Okay. It's up now to DC 18 that time around. Hour four. I need you to roll another sense motive. Come on. Come on. Come on. Shoot. 13. Something's not right down there yeah i just can't quite it's because you're tired you're tired you're fatigued yeah oh yeah not getting as

much breath with every uh it's just asleep in the tree hour five just passes out. Hour five. You're sound asleep. You get nothing. You get 36 points of non-lethal damage. You fall out of the tree. One of the giants is like, that tree seems to have shit out of now. Kill it!

What about in the back of the camp, there's a bunch of tents, there's a large hut with a chimney and everything. Seems like a place where a hall of some kind uh more sturdy walls a roof do i see anyone or anything in particular going in in or out of that building that's pretty far away but i mean you do have a decent vantage point now don't forget that the way you're looking at this map

it's getting high the elevation is getting higher and higher and higher right so it's kind of up from my view up from your view it's hard to see it looks to be like some sort of long house and there are um people coming and going but the same giants that are in the tents no particular difference they're dressed they're all dressed differently but uh yeah let's get over let's check it over to matthew here for these first four hours so for aza the owl flying around uh then i land on a tree in these copse trees what is the environment for an owl first four hours. So for Raza, the owl, flying around... Then I land on a tree in these copse of trees. What is the environment for an owl?

Well, I'm trying to figure that out, too. If there is an owl that is acclimated to cold weather, that's the one I picked. Well, how convenient is that? Well, I saw one, and I was like, I'll be that. All right, so as a druid, you can be anything you can think of? You have to be familiar with the animal. So I figured it was something she observed. She picked some sort of cold weather bird. Okay. Alright, so as a druid you can be anything you can think of. You have to be familiar with the animal. So I figured it was something she observed.

I see. She picked some sort of cold weather bird. Okay. Well, then what I'm going to do is you... I can't imagine they suffer from altitude problems. I'm just imagining you as a flightless penguin right now, waddling through the camp. Yeah, as you become the

animal, you would take on its immunities and as well as its weaknesses right normally yeah yeah i still think they have to roll the fortitude save but they get a solid bonus to it but on the other hand they couldn't type 40 words a minute so it's a give and take um all right so roll roll a uh fortitude save for the first hour. Roll two fortitude saves. And what bonus am I giving myself? Give yourself a plus 10.

Okay, DC 15, right? I make both. All right, roll again for DC 16. Make it. Again. Make it. Again. Make it. And one more. By the way, I'm beating these even without my bonus.

Okay. This is the best rolling I've done all year. DC 17 this time? 18. I make it. Make it. Okay. So you guys are now on the same time.

Thrilling radio. Roll that test again. And one more. And one more. And one more. I had a question. It's Matthew's turn. Okay. I want it.

It's not a turn, he's an owl this time. Ow! All right, so Matthew, you've been up there for four hours checking out

what's going on. What are you interested in looking at? You see a watchtower as well. You gain the same intel that Joe has. Same patterns. Skyrocket. That kind of thing. Skyrocket the whole business. I'd also like to get a look

just of the area. Do I get the sense that this is a safe area to be? No one really comes up here. It's kind of observed by the watchtower, but that's it. You're asking, is this a good place, you think, where we could camp out? Yeah.

Maybe. The problem is it's very busy, mostly because of the activity around what you now realize is a slave pen. There are long rows of small wooden shacks huddled together in this fenced-in yard. They are unpainted, crude structures, unfit for long-term human survival in the cold environment. It's pretty obvious to you. A few communal fire pits are scattered among the sheds,

and similar to what Joe saw, you wouldn't know this, but the fallen snow is mixed with dirt and frozen mud, trampled down by the milling of countless feet, both small and large. You would think that these small, pathetic shacks are used to house the slaves, or at least the ones that they haven't eaten yet or worked to death. They're very, very small. You can't imagine this is beyond the worst living conditions,

especially with the cold. You can imagine how many of these slaves, they haven't acclimated, and they're just dying of freezing every single day. Especially with only a couple scattered fire pits, small fire pits. You would say there's probably 40 to 50

human slaves here. Mostly human. World perception check? 32. As far as you see, they come in ships, but there's only two frost giant guards

watching the pens at any one time over these four hours although we can see like they're on that gate right at the map on the map

like in the picture of the map sometimes they're on the gate sometimes they're wandering around the pits keeping order um or carrying out a dead body

um but yeah that is that is the scene that you uh or carrying out a dead body. But yeah, that is the scene that you take in there. And that points to a sense of hubris of the giants. They're not worried about these little folk that are in the slave pens, if they are little folk. There aren't giants in the slave pens, are there? No, no, just the guardians. Sometimes they're just talking.

Sometimes they're walking the yard. Or sometimes they're, like, just the guardians. Sometimes they're just talking. Sometimes they're walking the yard. Or sometimes they're, like, playing games. They're, like, taking rocks and throwing them at makeshift targets constructed from the walls of probably one of these demolished shacks. Okay. That's awful. And what was your perception check? 32. 32. 32. Unlike the Watchtower Giants, these giants are equipped with man-catchers instead of battle axes.

Cool. Okay. So not a pretty gruesome scene. It's a real upper. Yeah, but it's not a good situation. Let's talk about that statue. Yeah. Appears to about that statue. Yeah. Appears to be some sort of shrine.

There's a set of ancient stone stairs carved straight out of the mountain, climbing up to a hexagonal stone dais with chiseled runes barely visible from where you're standing. There's an ice sculpture depicting a giant bearded figure standing atop the dais. The sculpture's features are angular and chiseled with an inhuman, almost elemental quality about them. Jagged shards of ice form the figure's beard and hair. And if you fly, do a fly over there to like, just let me get a little closer, see if I can see more information.

Every time you get over there, it just seems a little bit colder the closer you get to the statue. It's a permanent ice sculpture. It used to be a swan. Available now at parties. Such a fancy party. You know what's interesting?

And I don't know if this is canonical or anything, but looking at the picture, it looks like there are two giants maybe kneeling in prayer or reverence, but there also seem to be humanoids, like little folk with them. And I don't know if that's true or not. According to this picture picture there are humans

all over this place there are yeah in little chunks everywhere yeah but it looks like i mean they're so they're slave labor they're doing everything it's just so strange that they would put humans with these giants like worshiping at the statue unless they they're sacrifices. Well, maybe. But they look like they're lined up next to them. It's just it's almost like they're praying together. But, you know, I don't know. In terms of the other structure,

this will be the end of your four hours to really taking the time to observe all this stuff. It's another long house. You can see the one. You have a better vantage point than Lork to see that one towards the north of the camp. It's very, very big. This is a smaller long house.

Pretty large wooden structure, though. A peaked roof, and obviously there's another watchtower overlooking that. You don't really see anything come or go from there, though. Cool. Ominous. Ominously quiet. Too quiet. Too ominous ominously quiet too quiet too quiet perhaps a little too quiet can i ask you a question now now you may go uh are there any humans

supporting as slave labor the the watchtower in front of me there's a tent there's a cook fire it looks like in front of the watchtower supporting you mean like holding it up no like like working like like working the fire keeping it going serving the giant food anything like that that's in the watchtower uh no so that that giant is solo that giant is solo um yeah it's... Darkness has not come yet. I'm assuming you're going to stay until it gets dark. Oh, yeah. Hour five. You guys roll your checks. It's a DC 19 now.

Made it. 90-20. 90-19. Both of them were 90-20s, man. Am I rolling altitude as a bird? Oh. If you want me to... If you say yes, I would... The less of these checks we have to roll If you want me to, if you say yes,

I would. The less of these checks we have to roll, the better. Well, if you say yes, I'll just cast life bubble. No, no.

I would have cast life bubble. You're going to want to use that on the other guys. All right, so you're fine, O'Brien. Yeah. Okay.

Roll another sense motive. See if you can figure out what the hell's going on. Yeah, I'm just watching these giants trying to figure out something is up. Come on.

17. Just keep chipping away. so you're watching and even watching now for close to five hours just trying to figure out what the hell is going on here you must be getting a little hungry well i have a cliff bar oh yeah naturally yeah i stopped Naturally. Yeah. I stopped at REI. Let me see your character sheet. It's pretty apparent that tempers run high in the camp, as you assumed. But the frost giants that oversee everything pretty ruthlessly suppress any overt violence. Even so, having watched this as long as you have, and you know that you're way outnumbered, you feel like it

wouldn't take much to start a brawl or even a riot. Yeah. Yeah, we just gotta make one of those we just gotta make the Ettins think the Hill Giants did something. And in reference to the tents that have these symbols, you would think that these are maybe the original tribes of these people coming to join under one banner.

And so they're separated by camp so they don't kill each other in the night. in the night, but ultimately they're all going to be under the banner of Skirkopla or the Storm King himself. Right, right. Alright, so can I take note while I'm here of which tents

are being used by which species of giants? Sure. You just have that information from hours of looking. So for future reference, we can maybe use it against them. Alright. Can I check out the from hours of looking. So for future reference, we can maybe use it against them. All right. Can I check out the aspirational Acropolis? It's not an Acropolis at all.

The aspirational amphitheater? I have no idea what you're talking about. Either the theater, which is probably a farm. It's either a farm or a theater. Okay, which... Or both.

Where on the map are you talking? Are you flying somewhere else now? No, I'm still in those same trees. It's in... Or both. Where on the map are you talking? Are you flying somewhere else now? No, I'm still in the same trees. Right below. It's in the same area. Just like directly below those trees.

It's the tilled rose. Tilled rose in the house with a chimney. I just realized I'm going to have to unwild shape if we're staying

there for eight hours. So maybe, maybe Faraz will like plan to light out at seven hours so she can get a little ways down and reset wow i've never come to the end of a wild shape time limit before i've been like oh crap i'm still in dangerous territory so in terms of the fields you don't see anything out of the ordinary you just see slaves tilling the fields. They're probably trying to just provide more food.

But it is a food source. Yeah, a food source. The building itself, from the outside, it appears to be some sort of barn or warehouse. Its pitched roof rises about 40 feet above the ground. From your vantage point, you see

oversized double doors, which are obviously sized for giants, and an exterior flight of stairs that runs along the north side of the building, which would be the side that you're looking down from, because you're above it. You know what I mean? And there's smoke coming

out of the chimney. So you think barn, warehouse, something is being made in there. A foundry or something. It looks like there's two, they look like they might be frozen lakes or ponds, and it looks like that barn or foundry or whatever it is is on a frozen lake from the painting. Yeah, and there's another building to the left of that or west of that that is like on another frozen lake with docks that go out of it. With like docks sticking out of it. Yeah.

That one looks like, well, no, I was going to say like it looks almost like sized for humans, but that might be. So if you see that as well and you're wondering why why would there's plenty of places they could have built this building why do they build it on a lake maybe they need the water for some reason or whatever they're producing it's their ice fishing yeah that's my first thought um so i mean i'm i wonder if we if we want to sabotage their foods of life we burn those fields and make it look like like if we start a riot and burn the fields while you know and blame it on one race or something so we can cut off their

food supply and so discontent yeah burn in there seem to be two symbols on those tents so burn one of those symbols on there there's two different things maybe we figure out what their sigil is yeah be like a sweet cornfield thing. So, yeah. So, Farazza, I just was saying, is going to have to unwild shape. So, I think she's not going to be able to stick around for eight hours. She's going to get out of here.

So, after five or six hours, she's going to head back down. And halfway while you're flying back, you fall out of wild shape, fall from the sky and die. You said that so seriously. We'll see you next week. You fall down the mountain.

No one ever hears from you again. All right, so you're going to take off, and you wanted to look at those center pits on your way out? Yeah, I was doing a flyby. Okay. Whatever the elevation of this place is, it's been hollowed out to form this plateau that's low to the ground with caves leading deeper into the mountain.

There's a series of sloped ledges which wind around to the bottom, so it provides this sort of path to get to the bottom, where the depression is flat and level. The curvature of the rock walls itself lends to the appearance of a natural arena. At the bottom, several large caves open into the northern rock wall. Across from the caves, on the southeast

side, are a series of, like, wooden dummies. And around the basin's rim, there are small piles of round boulders. Roll a perception check. 39.

So you're flying over. You obviously don't want to make too much notice of yourself, but you're trying to figure out what the hell's going on. You see two stone giants. And one stone giant is just taking boulders and throwing them at the wooden target dummies. And you'll see him miss, miss, and then hit. And they splinter all over the place. While you're flying over, the second stone giant comes around that circular pathway leading to the bottom of the basin, dragging a human with him. He ties him to one of the broken down wooden dummies,

and they begin taking target practice. Oh my God. One hits the human, and the human basically explodes. Oh. And you see, that's not the first time they've done this. That's terrible.

And you go back towards camp. Are these cranes of any note? Cranes outside of the cave openings. I see them sitting on kind of the winding path. They're on the rim. They're all on the rim. Or maybe they're wrecking balls of some kind. Yeah, you would think, since this is clearly not a natural depression in the mountain,

that maybe it was used either to create this basin, or it has to do with something they're digging into the walls for. Got it. Are they... Are they carrying anything out with them? Are they carrying anything out with them? You don't see this. These two stone giants are just

goofing off. But in general, like, are they mining something? Are they carrying anything? In the time that Feyraza is there, you don't see anything coming and going. So maybe it's already been mined. Or maybe it's

just an off day. See, we've had the tomb underneath Trunau. We've had the Vault of Thorns. We've had Nargrim Steelhand. I'm wondering if this is a point of interest where they're trying to get another artifact. The heart of the mountain. Yeah. There's something in here that Volstis needs.

You guys are going to have to listen to this episode again like ten times. I know, really. There's so much information. There's so much here. It's like an entire adventure's worth concentrated in one area. Feyraza flies by.

Lork, she probably told you before then, like, I can't stay as long as you. An owl flies by and poops on you. He looks down, smiles. Must be Feyraza. Lork, roll a fortitude check.

Okay. Oh, fail. Oh, no. 18. All right. You take six points of non-lethal damage. Max. Max damage of non-lethal.

Would you expect anything less? Oh, man. By now, it's dark. So, yeah, he starts being like, oh, my God, it's getting really cold up here. Frostbite's starting to set in. Yeah, as the sun's going down. It's getting cold, yeah. Sun goes down.

Now it's starting. You're not strong enough for this. Maybe it's dropped to like 32, 29. Role in knowledge local. Is it regarding the Giants? It is indeed. I don't know if you get a bonus to that. It's probably always regarding the Giants It is indeed. I don't know if you get a bonus to that. It's probably always regarding the giants.

Natural 20. Oh! 27. This is a very important piece of information you're about to get. Oh, that's it! Yes! How you use it is up to you. Oh, no.

Just tell Skid. He'll use it much better than I will. We'll just use it. As it gets dark and your watch is ending, you see the giant descend from the watchtower. Leaving it, you would think unmanned unless there is someone or something inside of the hut. You think to yourself,

why the hell would this giant leave there? Maybe there is something in there. But then you realize maybe it's because frost giants don't have dark vision. Oh, that is a big piece of information. Wow. And the giant descends and goes back into the camp. Well, there's a tent at the base of the watchtower.

There is. Is it unused right now? Right now it is. Okay. So maybe that giant will come back to that camp later. Or maybe a dark vision giant is asleep in that tent right now and going to wake up and come to work. A lot of different things could happen. Well, I want to stay for a little bit and see how long this tower is unmanned.

Okay. Next hour, roll another check. DC 21. Made it. 27. Steal yourself against the cold. At this hour, all the giants start

lining up in two lines, two long lines between the camps. In height order, I assume? All in order of height. Small to top. They're picking basketball teams.

Hill Giants are like, I always get picked last. Stone Giants are sick point guards. Get your heads in the game even though your view on the upper camp isn't as good obviously as the view on the lower because of your position and your proximity to the lower camp you can obviously see that both of these lines

are lining up outside of the building to the west of the upper camp right up against the rest of to the west of the upper camp, right up against the rest of the mountain. You know, the upper camp and the lower camp are on the westernmost side of this, but there's a building outside of the lower camp, which you don't know what's going on there. Yeah.

There's a building outside of the upper camp, and that's where these two lines are forming. Okay. And giants will come up, get something, and then walk away. Or it's the mess hall. Probably a mess hall. Okay. And giants will come up, get something, and then walk away. Or it's the mess hall. Probably a mess hall. Okay. So that's where their food is. Mmm.

Interesting. If we could poison their food. Now, we're not going to have fancy death poisons, but to sicken them, just to get them sick. I still have that medium spider venom from like episode 20. Oh, my God. It's time to use it.

Oh, Chekhov's gun. We could get a minus one dex to one of those giants. Right. The cat's ready to fall. Attack! They've taken the spider venom. Three rounds later, I four of you are dead. Guys, I feel a little off.

I don't know what it is. What the hell was that? I have a slight stomachache. On the last hour of your watch, roll another 4-2 check. Okay. Crack die. Sure it is. That is a 29.

29. So you're fine on the last hour of your check. You now see that no one has reoccupied that tower. So it's unoccupied at night. Wow. Really? At least right now, they're not on high alert. There's no reason to occupy it.

Yeah, so we really don't want to get them on high alert. We have to be very careful about that. We've got to occupy them. Yes, we really don't want to get them on high alert. We have to be very careful about that. We've got to be cautious. As much as this camp, and now Faraz and Lork have spent enough time watching it, is condensed in this area. It is still very spread out. What happens in one section of the camp may take a while for that news to reach the other side of the camp. However, those watchtowers make things so much more difficult because during the day, as far as you know right now, they are manned.

Now, what about the ones in the lower camp and upper camp, the watchtowers? Did the frost giants also leave those? Same thing. Yeah, at night. I have an idea. Okay. Cool. And now it's time for you to climb down, which you can do automatically, and make your way back.

Okay. So, it's very late at night when you return to the camp, because it takes you another three hours to get down. Another three hours of hiking down. Reunite with Cat Benatar. Three hours up, eight hours in the tree, three hours back down. 14 hours, Lork's been gone. It's got to be tough for those of us who stayed behind because we're like, oh, maybe they're dead.

How long are we supposed to wait? Yeah. If I'm not back? Just wait longer. Yeah. I mean, I know they say by the mechanics it's just eight hours uninterrupted rest, but you would just think it would take another day down to reacclimate. And then go back up and start the process again.

Yeah, yeah. But you do that 30 times, and you're not going to have to roll on it anymore. But we just have to wait until we get to that point. But also with the cold, we can't light a fire or anything either. Totally. Coming back and just, yeah. So you come back. You relay all of this information information do you have an idea

for them does feyraza have an idea based on your knowledge i mean you guys i would assume lork and feyraza start swapping stories which is up there which you see up there i have one very minor idea that just occurred to me at the end there which was uh i was almost ready when there was nobody in that watchtower i was almost ready to jump out of the tree and just like go to the watchtower but i didn't want to be too foolish especially being fatigued i wondered if we could plan it so that uh lord could do the same thing again watch again but then towards sundown plan it so you guys rest you know during the day and then come up right at sundown yeah right at dusk yeah when the the watchtower is empty and then just one little minor idea i thought it would be neat for baron to go for us to go up to the watchtower with

baron sneak up to the front watchtower and have obviously we could learn more information right in there but to have you do your like dwarfish engineering and uh uh sabotage sabotage the skyrocket. So that it sits there and it looks completely intact. But when he hits it to light it or to fire it off, like nothing happens. No good. I'm glad we had a whole hour of Joe and a tree. And then driving my character into the ground.

Let me control myself. Thank you. The other thing we could do is sabotage the tower. Like the engineering equivalent of like sawing a leg so that when a giant goes up it. That was my idea the first time I saw it. I'd love for those towers to fall. Well, the only problem is that like sawing it. I mean, who knows what their intelligence is.

I can warp it magically. Okay. We could also set off a rocket in a wrong part of the camp and then do our business in that area. Totally. That might be the best one because I don't think they're signaling to any other camps. I think this place is so big that that's how they get people to go. They're signaling to all corners of the camp. Now, another thing to think about is as you formulate your plans, you have to think not only what our first plan is,

but what are you going to do if that plan succeeds? And then what's the next step? And then what's the next step? And then what's the next step before we get to get the hell back down the mountain again? Are we playing chess here? You've got to plan three moves ahead. Wow. So yeah, sabotage tower, sabotage skyrocket, kill the giant, all possible options. But then what?

By the way, it's really sad that Gormley is dead because there's a witch spell called putrefy food and drink. It's a level zero spell. If we could get into their warehouse, you could just spend the whole day just poisoning all of their I love when a cantrip has value in books. But she's dead.

Another idea I had surrounding low-level spells was when you brought up that they are not getting along in that camp. Could something that's just like a level zero spell for Pembroke, like ghost sound, could he have the sound of someone saying something terrible about another camp of giants and start a fight, and they're just so dumb they don't know that it came from a magical source?

Possibly. I mean, you would think there's probably innumerable ways to come up with creative solutions to making and starting a fight. But what's going to be key is it should either be well-staged, fast, or both, so that the source of the trouble can't be traced back to you. Right. Can't be traced back to sabotage. That's the main thing, because then they'll go on high alert.

So you rest? Rest, yeah. You get your fatigue goes away However I need to roll A d100 Rando and Kondo We'll see you next week Oh no He didn't know what to do

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