AD&D: Against the Giants - Musings

We're back to our regularly scheduled campaign (already in progress) and have had a good run for the past couple of sessions. The party just reached the throne room of the Jarl in G2: GLACIAL RIFT OF THE FROST GIANT JARL, and I had to rearrange a few things based on what transpired before. Here are some details and thoughts about the module and how my party is proceeding...

First off, the party ran into the two white dragons some time ago. They ran afoul of the male who breathed on the party not once, but twice. This killed half the party (including the 0-level lantern bearer)! The rest of the party fell back to the entranceway and hid behind the boulder, taking shots when they could while the cleric valiantly held the dragon at bay. They were able to take out the male dragon with spells and melee but were in no shape to continue. When they moved forward to retrieve the fallen, the magic-user spotted the female moving in to investigate. They hastily threw up a wall of force, collected the dead, and hid out in one of the abandoned rooms of the glacier.

Meanwhile, the female dragon whacked her head on the force field, then shook off the pain and roared in rage at the sight of her dead mate. She took off, climbing the wall to the hole in the ceiling that opened on the rift. The dragon circled the rift for a few hours before retiring to the lair. Eventually, the giants checked in on the dragons (for feeding time) and found the male dead and the female agitated (these are non-speaking dragons that serve as mounts for the Jarl and his wife).

Once the party was feeling safe, they used their djinn servant to help transport the deceased back to their safe cave outside the glacier. Here they began the week long task of raising the dead, healing, and resting from the ordeal. Fully three characters died (plus one hireling), and all were raised successfully. The dwarf henchman, who had died several times before, is starting to see his Constitution drop to perilous levels. But his loyalty remains high, so he remains in the party (besides, where else would he go?). During the rest period, the magic-user periodically used a crystal ball to scry on the dragon and see what it was up to. She got various scenes of the Jarl's wife riding the dragon, searching the glacier for signs of the attackers. She also saw some feeding times, and the host of frost giants moving the dragon hoard to a more protected location (the Jarl's throne room, amidst the stone columns supporting the immense cavern). So the dragon cave was now abandoned, and the female white dragon was safe and secure, watched over by the frost giant guards of the throne room.

Several days later, after resting from their ordeal, some of the party members continued to explore the lower levels, but left the dragon cave alone and always scanned looking for the dragon. The last session, I rolled for random encounters and got one. Now, there are no inhabited encounter areas remaining in the upper level of the glacier (the party is very thorough), so the only thing left to encounter was the dragon! It was the first encounter roll of the day (early morning, with the winds whipping the snow across the glacier), and the dragon was clawing her way up the glacier walls to gain some height in order to take flight. It so happened she climbed up the same side and the same location as the party entering along the ledge on the eastern side of the rift.

The druid went to cast wall of fire and the others scrambled into the tunnels as the dragon breathed. We rolled simultaneous initiative, and the spell and breath went at the same time. So I reduced the effect of the cold breath by the damage done to the dragon, but still managed to catch three party members in the effect. They retreated quickly (as did the dragon) and hid out in the tunnels for a while, afraid to expose themselves on the ledge outside. Eventually they got brave enough to continue forward (meaning they crossed the ledges after much investigation) and headed down to the lower level.

Now the dragon, burned and in pain, fled back down to the lower level and back to the throne room. While the party hid and snuck around, she was licking her wounds. This also put the giants on high alert, although they had no idea what happened to the dragon (can't speak, remember?).

The party made its way to the western end of the main tunnel in the lower level and encountered 4 giants on guard in a roundish cave. Three engaged the party while one ran off to alert the guards. This set in motion the largest giant combat I have run in a while.

Now, the fact that lighting in the lower level is non-existent hurts the party. Plus, they rely on infravision and a continual light lantern to see. I know that all monsters in AD&D are supposed to have infravision of some sort (hokey, but hey, that's what Gygax said), but I decided that the giants have something akin to low-light vision (hence, the fire-beetle cages throughout their inhabited areas). The light was a big hindrance to the party - they could not see the entire cavern and the giants had them dead in their sights. But the stone columns hindered the archers from getting a clear shot at the party which mostly remained at the entrance. I had some of the carls from the other cave move in with two polar bears in order to prevent the party from attacking the Jarl. The dragon was waiting on its treasure pile in the center of the room.

We ran a good 20 rounds of combat between 4 giants at the entrance with 2 polar bears, the white dragon, and another 4 giant guards coming from the south. The Jarl was warned to prepare for battle and the other carls moved to protect the women and young. I got a lot of good hits on the party, dropping the magic-user with an unseen ballista missile, and nearly killing off the party fighters with a final dragon breath before the dragon died an untimely death (pinning her killer under her fallen body). One of the carls fled to save his own ass (chaotic evil, gotta love it!), but all the others were slain. The western ballista archer never got a good bead on a target, but no one knows he was even there! The party quickly retreated to the entrance, healed those they could back to consciousness, then fled the rift as quickly as possible (running into a random encounter at the top of the glacier - some camped ogres which they killed in a few rounds).

It seems that the conditions of the combat have me wondering what the giants will do next. The party has returned to the safe cave, rested, and returned to the glacier to retrieve treasures left behind on previous forays (the magic items frozen into the mural wall on the east, and the clear quartz gems in the pool of water on the west). They spoke to the snow leopards and are on good terms with them (druids, go figure), so they were left alone. All the male and female giants left below will likely make a last ditch stand to defend their home, but I'm toying with the idea of letting the Jarl and his wife flee to the fire giants through the magic teleportal behind their suite. The hill giants never had a chance, but things look grim for the frost giants, who are very aware of the situation with the hill giants (due to the cloud giant who escaped to warn them, and the stone giant females and young that were allowed to live and leave).

If this happens, the party may well defeat the frost giants and find nothing of value remaining to loot. I'm not sure what the frost giant Jarl should take with him, but I'm assuming that the invisible chest of goodies by the teleportal and maybe some trusted guards and his winter wolves would be all he needs. I've never had something like this occur in all my years of DMing, and it would be cool to actually use the tactics laid out in the module (for a change). I'm debating on whether or not to vacate the lower levels completely and have a mass exodus of frost giants to Snurre's Halls. To me, this seems counterintuitive, since the frost and fire giants are more likely to fight among themselves than cooperate, especially since the fire giants are in their element and the frost giants would be weakened. It would make sense for the frost giants to protect the women and young, but the males would likely also seek to escape certain death (chaotic evil = "save thy own ass first").

I don't know if the party will even locate the teleportal, but even if they do, it's unlikely they will seek to use it (because they have no idea where it leads) and will instead loot the giant lair for all they can get and then head home with all their treasure they stored in the safe cave. I've already given them XP for the treasure stored there (as suggested in the module), so we'll have some sessions of treasure removal to contend with before they move on to G3 HALLS OF THE FIRE GIANT KING. I'm tempted to add in a side trek against the ogre magi. I see them as assassination agents of the giants (and the dark elves) who could infiltrate Quasqueton (the party's base of operations) invisibly and attack the party when they least expect it. I'd like to keep this adventure going. The players are having a good time, even if they are wary about getting in too deep. I don't think D1-3 is an option for continued adventuring for them (they hate railroaded plots, and it seems that the drow will be beaten back). However, if I can keep Eclavdra alive and have her retreat as stated in the module, then I have given them incentive to chase down the dark elves and eliminate their threat once and for all! The druid in the party might simply decide to collapse the tunnels behind the retreating drow and be done with it. But knowing them, they never leave an enemy alive if they can help it! Besides, I've had dark elves pop up in the past - in the desert of desolation under the slaver's guild, directing frost giant attacks outside of Reedle, and involved with Zelligar at Quasqueton (detailed in his journals only). The dark elves should prove to be a threat enough for the party to take on.

Now, since this campaign is set in Mystara, I've toyed with using Shadow Elves instead. However, I much prefer the drow designed by Gygax (and the Elder Elemental God patron of Eclavdra) to the tragic shadow elves led by Rafiel. I'm not going to use Q1: QUEEN OF THE DEMONWEB PITS unless I highly modify it to be less of a cartoon-like romp and more like a terror-inspiring epic into the Abyss (as it should have been!). As I've stated in the past, the connection between D3 and Q1 is tenuous at best. Lolth had no involvement with the giants (Eclavdra was involved with the Elder Elemental God, not Lolth), and she might even applaud the party for eliminating that splinter cell of renegade drow from her Vault. She is a demon, though, and is not likely to allow them to live regardless, so perhaps Lolth now has designs on the weakened EEG to take over his power (and perhaps the EEG now has need of adventurers to protect him from the ambitious demoness)...

I just thought of something! What if the Elder Elemental God is Arak of the Hundred Eyes (from dungeon module B3)? They have already encountered this extraplanar entity and dealt him a blow in Haven. Perhaps the whole giant uprising was his doing, and now the PCs will have a chance to put an end to his meddling in the Prime Material Plane once and for all! Eliminating Lolth from the equation means completely redoing the whole premise of the adventure - but if Eclavdra is slain, the other drow will seek safety in numbers, perhaps recanting their worship of Arak and returning to Lolth in order to save their asses from the party! This could work, and allows me to introduce other enclaves of Arak worshippers in the underworld. I'm already blaming the "day without magic" at the end of the year as an effect of "Arak's Eye." This could really turn into a mind-stunning epic conclusion to a very long AD&D campaign! Now I need to work out the particulars.....

I like linking the demons and gods of AD&D to Earth deities. Perhaps Lolth's true name is Ariadne (of Greek Mythology fame), and Arak of the Hundred Eyes would be Argus (guardian of the Garden of the Hesperides), also a figure from the Greek myth of Hercules' 12 labors. Of course, they have transformed into new forms over the centuries and gained and lost power several times, but these entities are immortal and always seeking to increase their power across the endless planes. yes, this could work out quite well in the end, especially since I use Greek/Roman deities for Thyatis.