| Session Date | January 11, 2020 |
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| Base XP Gained | 8000 |
Unsure of what to do, the party decided to try an Augury to to ask if it were better to enter the main hall of the giants or the out building. The result was clearly in favor of entering the main giant hall. So, Iban pushed against the main gate and was able to open it. Inside all was lit, albeit dimly, by torches. In the entry way the party found two giants sound asleep, an empty ale barrel between them. From a large double door to the north, the sound of revelry had grown much louder. A quick check of adjacent stairs up to the short tower revealed a third giant drunk and asleep at his post.
The party left the sleepers be and proceeded cautiously through the giant's hall. The place was largely deserted, as the giants seemed to be busy at their feast, and the party was careful to avoid it. The moved north and east, exploring various rooms but finding them largely deserted. From one door the sounds of raucous but friendly fighting and wrestling could be heard, but the party avoided entering it. After passing through a comfortable hall of sorts, the party opened the door to a well furnished bedroom. However, within a huge cave bear suddenly rose up and charged. Iban slammed shut the door and tried wedging it with his axe, but the huge beast simply tore the door loose and attacked. A hold monster spell from Cadwaladyr eliminated the threat, and the party dragged the huge thing back to its lair before dispatching it. The door they propped up to avoid any obvious sign of their passage. Within the room, quarters for a well-to-do female giant, they found a sack of many gems, much to ZZ's delight.
They continued exploring around the perimeter of what they believed to be the central hall of the steading, alerted to it by the greater and lesser volume of noise coming from it. In one room they found a small dining or council chamber, with skins hanging from the walls. Cadwaladyr found a door hidden behind one of the skins, and beyond was a small chamber with a pile of firewood and stairs down. The party a sealed canister hidden in the wood, within which was a letter. It was an order to Nosnra to not move on Manston until ordered and that Jarl Vosotok would be traveling there soon for the "final answer." Resistance was expected, but they expected substantial help from "our friends." It was signed Gulliveg, King of the Blueflood.
As a precaution, ZZ cast detect traps and the party descended the stairs to a dungeon area. They followed a corridor around to a large room. ZZ sensed a portcullis, though it did not seem to be an immediate danger. Within the room, there was a glint of gold and gems, but a stealthy investigation revealed it to be junk. However, Bel sensed a secret door nearby, and the party took this. Within a short corridor there were three levers, and the party surmised these somehow controlled the portcullis, or at least one did. A second secret door opened into a very large hall with another staircase returning to the hall above and multiple other corridors. The party opted to go due south for a while, until the corridor Teed. There were Bugbear sentries here watching a pile of stone and rubble, apparently a barricade of some sort.
The party slipped the opposite direction and found a torture chamber with a pair of giants, once again sleeping off some heavy drinking. These they slew as there seemed little chance of them being sought any time soon. Up a nearby hall, the party found Bugbears guarding several doors. The party engaged and slew them as well, but not before additional bugbears came to investigate the noise. All this noise also apparently alerting a pair of fire giants. These rushed into the party from behind as the last Bugbears were being slain, and they proved to be far tougher opponents! Still, they were slain and it was discovered that the Bugbears had been guarding orc slaves, who seemed to be in rebellion against their giant masters. The Orcs were freed and, taking the Bugbear weapons, rushed the stone barricade and over it to whatever lay beyond. before departing, the party learned that many of them were the so-called Spider Orcs they'd encountered before.
The party followed them but turned up a side corridor where a number of Bugbears had come from. That was a small complex of rooms and corridors that seemed to be a bugbear barracks. Cadwaladyr cast globe of invulnerability then, blocking the narrowest area, fireballed a great many of the Bugbear masses. The rest were soon slain, though not without getting at the party for a brief melee.
The party now investigated some of the other side corridors off the large room. In one, they found a small dungeon with numerous prisoners. Among those rescued was an elf who vowed to serve the party for a year, a powerful dwarf fighter from the Dwarf Kingdom, six other dwarves in poor shape, a human engineer from Wellington, and the apparent leaders of the Orc rebellion. The latter were allowed to leave and they promised they would remember their liberation by the party (they were also Spider Orcs). The others released stayed with the party. An apparently insane human was left behind.
Nearby, the party encountered a particularly huge and ugly hill giant with a massive battleaxe and accompanied by a pair of carnivorous apes. They were dispatched with a little difficulty, and some help from the new dwarf. At this point, the party felt weary and battered form their fights and, not wishing to push their luck, decided to escape from the giant fort. They backtracked the way they had come, slipping out of the great hall without further incident. The enlarged group made their way to the party's horses, only to find that they had been slaughtered by mountain lions. So, the group headed out on foot, arriving back in Durnbridge before dawn...