CXXI. A Familiar Face

General Summary

After taking out the deep-touched Storm Giant and the elementals he had summoned in the processing area of the Storm Cells, the party decided to forgo stealth for the remainder of their mission. Making their way down the long hallway the last Storm Giant had been running down, the party came to a fork in the path, with a sign written in Giant. Amari read it and determined that the prison's General Cells were to the west, while the Maximum Security prisoners were kept to the east. The group decided to go to the general cells first in the hope that the prisoners they would free would help them free the generals as well. Following that path led them to a barred metal gate guarded by two deep-touched Storm Giants. Jäger held up his hand and tried to greet them, but the Giants immediately attacked.

“Intruders!"
-Storm Giant Guard

One of the Giants, with a large hermit-crab-like shell on his back, threw a lightning bolt at Wynna, King, and Amari. Euclid turned black as Amari cast Ray of Enfeeblement back at him. The second Giant threw a lightning bolt at Jäger and Roger, but Jäger took reduced damage and Roger took none. With a Blessing from Wynna, Amari cast a nasty Vitriolic Sphere. Soora fired an arrow into one of the Giants’ throats, killing it, and Jäger killed the next one, slicing through its ankles and running up its body, then slicing down its back. Upon searching the bodies of the felled Giants, Jäger turned up a heavy Eldingite key. It was at this point that the party noticed a huge arcane sigil on floor, which seemed to be made of Eldingite, with metal supports and a large spike protruding downwards. Amari theorized that it was a security measure. Jäger decided to test whether putting the corpse of one of the slain guards on top of the sigil would deactivate the defenses, but it didn’t seem to have an effect, so Amari decided to try and subdue the magical effect. Once Amari dispelled the gate, a strong surge of lightning ran through before dying down, allowing the party to pass through. The next room the party entered was a large room with panopticon, surrounded by a rotunda of cells. Most of the cells are empty, but some did have prisoners in them. At the top of the panopticon were two deep-touched Giants, with another two on the ground floor. At the sound of intruders entering the room, the Giants engaged the party. Amari created an invisible Wall of Force to protect the party from lightning attacks. Soora, who needed to leave that safe zone in order to attack, got picked up and restrained by one of the Giants on the ground floor. Jäger and Roger went out to try and help her escape as well as keep the attention of the Giants on themselves while King, Amari and Wynna fought from a distance. The other Giant on the ground floor, with a huge distended jaw, attacked Soora and Jäger with a lightning bolt while they were exposed. Jäger and Soora managed to kill the Giant giving them trouble. Another summoned tentacles, but Amari counter-spelled and then counter-attacked that Giant with Synaptic Static. Wynna cast Moonbeam on one of the ones that had been up in the tower, and had since come down to try and help his comrades. Roger tried to engage the Giant with the distended jaw, but got picked up and swallowed for his effort. He managed to claw his way out of her throat soon afterwards, however. Amari killed the two Giants engaging with the party at once with a Vitriolic Sphere. The excited cheering of the prisoners surrounded the party as Jäger swam his way up to the last remaining guard. Jäger tried to intimidate the Giant into surrendering information, but the Giant refused and was then killed by Wynna Tolling his death. The party then went to begin freeing the prisoners from their cells. Inside they were surprised to find a familiar face: Jäger's cousin Regen Wakerock, accompanied by Ordate Zofia Holvft and General Svetlyra.