CM: C11E5 - Cloud Giant Keep Continued Report

General Summary

As the ghostly cloud giant turned on them, the Planeswalkers quickly tried to distance themselves from it and attack from range. Jayce and Lyra stayed between it and the others, launching attacks to minimal success. Bardak flung two pschic knives at the thing but they passed right through it. The ghost then opened its mouth wide and let out a deathly howl, and a wind with the chill of the grave tore through the room, pulling several of the party towards the ghost. Toby, not wanting his friends to be within reach of the apparition, cast Dissonant Whispers and the ghost fled immediately away from him and through the wall of the keep. Moments later it returned and closed back up with Jayce and Lyra, swiping at them with its spectral weapon. The heroes made short work of the ghost from there, however, and claimed the treasure in the chest as their prize.   After a brief discussion, the group determined that the only way left to go was down, so they returned to the entrance hall and began their way down the giant sized stairs. About halfway down, however, they suddenly found a couple of water elementals apparating in front of them and six ice mephits appearing behind them. The close quarters coupled with the difficult terrain of the giant-sized stairs made for a harrowing fight against these unexpected foes. The heroes were triumphant, but had exhausted many of their abilities. They decided to summon forth a tiny hut and take a short rest within its protection before continuing down the stairs.   As they rested in temporary safety, they eventually saw two more elementals appear at the base of the stairs and wait there, unmoving except for the undulating waters of the water elemental and the constantly twisting winds of the air elemental. Clearly they were waiting out the tiny hut, at which point the party would lose any advantage they might otherwise have had. So, they determined to launch an attack on the elementals before the hut expired. Darting out to fire off spells and then darting back into the protection, the Planeswalkers chipped away at the elementals while Toby remained inside to maintain the hut. It didn't take long before the elementals fell back enough to force the heroes to move too far from the protection of the hut to return to it before a counterattack was launched. At this point, the party also came to see that Zikran stood in the middle of the large room the elementals had fallen back into, next to a large, energized crystal. Behind him, on a raised platform and mounted into slots and grooves that allowed it to be aimed in various directions, stood what could only be the elemental cannon Gazre-Azam had said the evil mage was trying to build. Zikran somehow seemed to stop time itself once he joine the fray, and he cast warding magics on himself, and pelted the heroes with spell after spell. As they maneuvered to retort, the elemental cannon managed to fire once on the party, before Toby put up a wall of force to block it.