😎Bori has just watched the druids declare war on wizardkind. Sitting by the campfire, he decides that his chair is very uncomfortable. Finding a comfortable spot, he decides on fruit and salad. In a flash of inspiration, he decides on the concept of a fruit salad.
🐰Faefina taps him on the shoulder. She tells him that Granny has given them a task - to find a special staff that can summon a creature of great strength for the war effort. She declares that she has a pack prepared, and they must leave now.
The rest of the party, as the party dies and the sun rises, notices Bori's absence. A ranger (Aragon Slider) notices Bori's tracks heading to the north, along with a rabbit. He asks what they think of the war. 🧔♂️Harald declares himself against it, and 🧌Gronk is just happy to be there. Aragon says that Granny is old, and shouldn't be on the front lines. 🐰Faefina is happy just to follow Granny.
The party start following Bori's tracks. Faefina and Gronk feel a 'ping' in the back of their minds. Faefina recognises it as being from a direction, that some sort of portal has opened recently, and that necromancy was used. In the distance, the party see two figures, one human and one elf. The figures call out to the party in an accent best associated with royalty.
'Hello there!' the elf says. Greeting Aragon, he says that they're not native to the new world. Their armour, covered in silk, shows a gold dragon over a castle tower, the symbol of Albany. Clearly attired as a Fighter and a Ranger, they still seem unaccustomed to their professed career paths. They say that they are scouting ahead, for 'no reason.' They're with the Lenthor army. They mention that Lady Hillaria is down South, and ask why 🧔♂️Harald is not with the rest of the army. They say that the army has come to the New World as a gesture of good faith by the king of Albany. They ask if Harald would like his presence announced to the army, and Harald declines.
Following the tracks, Faefina realises that they seem to have slowed somewhat. She sees the tracks come to a stop, the rabbit tracks go ahead, become human, and then return to Bori. Bori's tracks end there, replaced by human footprints. Following the trail, the party come to a camp, finding a large man sat against a log and out cold. There's a large wound on his arm, which has been stitched. Recognising Bori, Faefina tries to wake him up. Gronk uses his magic to slap his face until he wakes up.
Bori recounts how he'd gone off with Faefina, and Faefina explains that he was deceived. Inspecting the wound, Faefina sees that someone has cut a chunk of flesh from his arm. Harald asks if it might not be connected to the necromancy Faefina detected. Gronk gives Bori a greater healing potion to fix him up. There are no tracks to be found leading away from the camp. Gronk tries to suggest that Bori tell them where these things went, to no avail.
Faefina communes and sees a gargantuan amoeba in her mind's eye, who appears to her eyes as an 8 foot woman dressed in a toga. The nature around her seems verdant and vibrant, while also withering the extant vegetation. Faefina, saddened by the lack of sideboob, asks if the person who travelled with Bori is still in the vicinity, and receives an affirmation. Faefina asks her who travelled through the gateway, and where they went. The woman says that the gateway was opened to bring someone in, and that Bori is still of use to them.
Bori recalls meeting a fellow Goliath at an inn, some time back - a cleric of humanity's darker aspects. Harald and Faefina, looking again, find tracks. Following them, they see two huge giants, covered in pustules, rushing towards them.
Harald rushes forward, slashing at one and dealing 21 dmg, stepping back again at Faefina's shouted warning..
Faefina calls Flame Strike, hitting both for 17 fire dmg and 16 radiant dmg.
She then casts Spiritual Weapon, which swings and hits for 8 dmg.
Bori attacks the first giant 5 times, dealing 60 dmg in total.
Gronk casts Wall of Fire, dealing 22 fire dmg.
Faefina recognises them as Phemora, previously beautiful creatures cursed by the elevn queen to walk the waking world as hideous giants.
The first giant, walking out of the fire. Bori swings at it but misses.
Moving closer to the party, Harald swings, dealing 23 dmg. Swinging it's club at Harald, it deals 24 dmg to him.
The second giant swings at Bori, dealing him 24 dmg.
Gronk finds himself rocked with 21 psychic dmg, and everyone loses an exhaustion level as the world shifts around them. Bori takes 10 dmg.
Harald swings at the second giant, hitting twice for 24 dmg and then steps back.
Bori punches both giants, stunning the first and dealing 11 dmg, and the second for 7 dmg.
Faefina hits at the first giant with her mace, dealing 9 dmg.
Her Spiritual Weapon also attacks, hitting the same giant for 6 dmg.
Gronk casts Polymorph on the second giant, turning it into an earthworm.
The first giant, still stunned, cries out for his best friend, and swings wildly to no avail. Harald steps forward, squashing the second giant - transforming him into a giant sized corpse. Striking at the first giant, he dismembers the giant's legs, and then the head as it falls into range. As the air escapes from it's lungs, it pleads to be buried with it's friend and roommate.
The party vows to bury the giants together. Camping for the night beforehand, Bori takes the first watch.
During this watch, he sees a Faefina bunny hop from the forest. It points at the (actual) sleeping Faefina, puts it's finger to it's lips, and gestures for Bori to follow. Out of earshot, it asks Bori to take the party to the Wizard's Pit, where everything will be explained. It occurs to Bori that having two Faefina's is somewhat strange. FauxFina tells Bori she'll see him tomorrow, and hops off.
Bori opts to wait until the morning to tell the party. Waking up Gronk for second watch, he mentions that Faefina is restless, and Gronk covers her with a blanket.
Waking up Faefina for third watch, Gronk says that Bori said she was restless, but she seemed to him to be sleeping fine. Putting two and two together, Faefina wakes the party, and explains to Bori that there can't be two of them at the same time. Bori tells the party what Fauxfina had said. As Faefina thinks to herself that she should leave, she sees the woman in the toga in the trees, shaking her head.
The party sets off in search of Fauxfina. Finding the formation described as Widow's Pit, they spot Fauxfina, holding a pound of flesh, writing on the rocks with it.
Faefina rushes towards her, swinging.
Fauxfina, sensing her coming, puts her hand to Faefina's neck but misses and hits Faefina's armour. She tosses the flesh behind her, landing it perfectly in the centre of the rock formation. She smiles.
Faefina swings with her morningstar, dealing 13 dmg.
She summons Spiritual Weapon, which swings and misses.
Bori attacks Fauxfina twice. As she does, she says 'Don't you want to know why?'.
Unmoved, he hits for 21 dmg, picks up Faefina, and takes her back to the defensive line.
Harald swings three times and hits twice, dealing 34 dmg and stepping back.
Gronk casts Wall of Fire in a ring around Fauxfina, trapping her inside and dealing 26 dmg.
Fauxfina dispells Gronk's spell, and declares that she won't be held back. She steps back, and utters a word in Infernal. The flesh bubbles and grows, erupting into three Neo-Boris. One of them, fully formed, steps forward towards Bori grasping it's great axe, asking 'don't you want to know?'
Harald, using his attack of opportunity, hits the first Neo-Bori for 20 dmg.
Bori, seized by a moment of clarity, looks at Fauxfina, and declares that she is *not* Faefina. Rushing towards Fauxfina, he declares that no one impersonates Faefina except him when he's mocking her.
Swinging five times, he hits every time, dealing 49 dmg, and knocking her flat. As she drops to the ground, she says: 'when the battle is over you will know'. Unconscious, she reverts to her doppelganger form.
Faefina swings her morningstar at Neo-Bori, dealing 16 dmg.
The spiritual weapon deals another 10 dmg.
Harald swings at Neo-Bori, blasting it apart in a whirl of steel and lightning.
Gronk, ready to cast ring of fire on the flesh that was bubbling up, on a whim decides to instead burn away some of the runes instead. As he does so, the one Neo-Bori that was about to escape from the flesh, collapses to the ground, and the flesh collapses to the ground inert.
As the doppelganger starts coming to, the party begins interrogating her. My name is Helene, she says, 'but you knew that', as she changes again into Faefina. She says she wants Bori because he has so much repressed rage. She says 'What's about to happen next has nothing to do with us'. She looks at Harald, and he feels something strike his mind.
Party gets 6200Xp ea.