Me, currently a Rogue/Sorcerer (7/4)
Tarn, The Barbarian Cleric and now Templar of Kord (4/5/4)
Shaendra, Tarn's Cohort (Barb 1, Cleric 11)
Ragnar, Paladin/Templar of Heronious (6/4)
Iceal, a Monk/Necromancer (7/2)
Coletan is on the boat guarding the familiars
I don't know where the pizza boy/new guy is...

We spent several weeks catching up with the times. We all had some shopping to do, but now prices are twice what they were, so we weren't able to get as much as we'd have liked.

A girl barbarian cleric showed up with a troupe of barbarian warriors looking for Tarn. Shaendra was her name, I think. It turns out that she is Tarn's betrothed, and she wants to travel with us for a time. Clerics are always good to have around, so I have no qualms about it.

Word got around to the city officials that there is a well-equipped adventuring party in town (that's us!) and we were summoned to a meeting with Lord Scoril. He explained how the war was going and that he was glad that we showed up. He then directed our attention to a stronghold near the former Fort Silas. This stronghold seemed to be a major focal point for giant activity. Intelligence reports that many more giants come out of it than go it. Lord Scoril wants us to a) stop the giants from reinforcing themselves, b) obtain evidence of a conspiracy and c) Kill as many giants as possible. In return, we get money for each giant killed, free charter, promise of land and title, and most importantly, the spoils. Sounds like a deal to me.

Traveling overland in the mudship was uneventful as usual. We parked the boat deep into the treeline of the clearing surrounding the stronghold. The structure looked like a giant log cabin. I did a quick reconnoiter around the building and returned to tell the rest of my findings. There was a main entrance near a lookout tower and two back entrances that had evidence of giant dogs. The monk and I turned invisible and approached the guard tower. We both went up the side to take out the guards. They had a large iron hoop with a clanger hanging next to it. I quietly lifted the clanger and hid it in the rafters. I also lifted the hoop just in case they were smart enough to use a weapon to clang the hoop. Then the monk and I launched our attack. Both giants were dead before they could cry out. We signaled for the rest of the party to approach and entered the stronghold. Shaenra and Coletan stayed on the boat.

The entrance hall had a pair of main doors and two other secondary doors. A great deal of noise was coming from the main doors, so we decided to save that for later. We went through several rooms with giant children and giant women. We made systematic work of them. Then we found the dogs. There was a large room with two doors that lead outside with about 14 dire wolves. We had a bit of a fight with them and I spent most of the combat trying to get free of one that had sniffed me out. I had to resort to a levitate scroll that I had handy.

After that room, we found a hill giant Don Juan talking up some females. He challenged Tarn to a duel. After Tarn's first strike, the giant turned chicken and ran. By then I had steaked out the other exit to the room (unseen, of course) and ham-strung him on the way past. Unfortunately for him, that ham-string was all he had left. The females all fainted and we make quick work of them (1,000 gp a pop, we ain't leaving any behind!)

We found the kitchen area after that, and after finishing off the cook, our map reviled that we had made a complete circle around the main hall where all the noise was coming from. Tarn and Ragnar went in, swords a-blazing. Iceal and I entered more discretely. We had interrupted a large shin-dig being put on by the giants. "Ho-ho-ho! This must be the entertainment!" cajoled one of the Giants. With a smile, Tarn dumped 20 giant heads from women and children on the floor. The giants did not find this entertaining, to say the least. "Kill them all!" shouted the giant. "If you insist!" replied Tarn. All hell then broke loose. There were three stone giants, a hill giant leader, a hill giant with a double sword, a dire bear, a metallic panther, and several other hill giants. There was also a bald-headed guy with red robes. I decided he must be a spellcaster, so to keep him from doing any harm I would cover him and disrupt his spells with my arrows. It seemed like a good plan, but as the fight was nearing an end and may arm getting tired from holding back the string, I had decided that the plan sucked. Needless to say, the bastard just sat there and didn't cast a spell the whole damn combat until it was time to flee. Then he dimension doored away taking the hill giant leader with him. My arrow bounced off of an invisible cover of some kind as he cast the dim door. I had wasted my time.

Tarn and Ragnar made tidy work of just about everything in the room. Iceal did a lot of running around the room and the walls, but I'm not sure if he killed anyone.