[Part 2: A Sinister Plot Revealed!]
Sep. 27, 2026 session
This session continues directly from the prior adventure inside the trap-filled giant/ogre/gnoll stronghold near the Dorcen frontier. Superstar! had just survived the trapped rooms and “air-eating” magical blocks, then prepared to pursue the strange young giant firing magical sling-spheres from the rafters.
The session turns into a brutal, chaotic fight with the “young giant,” who is revealed to be a mountain giant named Dennis. After inflicting two deaths and heavy damage across the party, Dennis is cornered, negotiates surrender, reveals that the Slave Lords hired him, and hands over coded intelligence showing that the Slave Lords now have detailed operational information on Superstar! The session ends with the party learning that the Slave Lords are already executing a multi-pronged plan involving Barleyton, Dorcen, and a maritime ambush.
The party resumes mid-fight
The session resumes around January 24, 2198, inside the giant stronghold. The party is still in the large hooded-lantern room where the strange giant-like attacker had been using rafters, traps, and explosive missiles.
The immediate plan is to send mobile people after him:
- Rangorn receives Fly and leads the chase upward.
- Wanda is prepared as a flying lightning-bolt platform.
- Molly holds on to a Feather of Levitation.
- Star finishes aiding Wanda, then begins levitating upward.
- Maple uses bird form and prepares to join or support the chase.
- Chiaro is still finishing emergency healing on Ethan.
- The rest of the party is trying to avoid standing in the open after the earlier fireball and trap damage.
The party correctly assumes that letting the attacker keep distance and line-of-sight control would be dangerous.
Dennis’s first tricks: guilt, oozes, and grease
As Rangorn takes flight, he is suddenly overwhelmed by the feeling that everything is his fault. This is not just Rangorn’s usual self-doubt; it is a magical or item-based effect. (The party later learns that this comes from Dennis’s battle axe.)
Dennis then begins firing large magical spheres from a giant slingshot.
The first sphere hits Rangorn and turns into a gray ooze on top of him. The added weight knocks Rangorn out of the air, and he crashes to the floor with the ooze on him. Thanks to Rangorn’s Ring of Free Action, he can throw it off quickly, but the impact still hurts and leaves a dangerous ooze loose in the room.
Then Dennis fires at Molly. She is knocked off the wall and covered in a thick, slippery grease-like substance. Her tumbling ability saves her from taking falling damage, but she is temporarily out of position and coated in flammable grease.
The party starts fighting the ooze. Audrienne throws a dagger into it, damaging it but destroying the dagger. Herman and Allison shoot it. The ooze is slow, but durable and resistant enough that killing it takes focused effort.
Dennis fireballs the room
Dennis keeps laughing and escalating. Once enough of the party is still clustered in the room, he lobs another sphere — this time a large Fireball.
The fireball is devastating. Many characters survive only because of good saves, fire resistance, magic items, or protective spells. Even then, it leaves the party in terrible shape:
- Rosby is killed.
- Audrienne is killed.
- Allison is left barely alive.
- Chiaro, Magic Lad, Wanda, and Ethan are all badly hurt.
- Rangorn takes damage but remains functional.
- Molly, despite being greased and at a saving throw penalty, rolls spectacularly well and survives.
- Star survives and remains active.
This is one of the most dangerous area-effect attacks Superstar! has taken in a long time. The party realizes that if Dennis gets even a couple more clean shots like this, more people will die.
Rangorn presses the attack
Rangorn gets back into the air and continues pressing Dennis, trying to stop him from launching more spheres.
Wanda uses the Wand of Lightning Bolts, accepting that Rangorn may be caught in the rebound or double-hit. The lightning hits Dennis and Rangorn; Dennis takes meaningful damage, while Rangorn’s elemental protections help reduce his own injury.
Star uses a Light spell to blind Dennis. This succeeds and becomes a key turning point. Dennis reaches for the scimitar-sized “dagger” at his side, trying to activate another escape or defensive power.
Rangorn keeps harrying him. Dennis complains that Rangorn ruined the fun and that everything is Rangorn’s fault. The axe’s blame-effect continues making Rangorn feel responsible, but Rangorn keeps fighting anyway.
During this time, Herman finishes off the grey ooze with a flurry of arrows.
Dennis turns gaseous
Dennis activates the scimitar and turns into gaseous form, bizarrely taking all his equipment with him. Because he is Light-spelled and Faerie Fired, the party can still track the glowing gaseous cloud as it tries to escape through the ceiling and roof boards.
The party scrambles for ways to stop a gaseous enemy:
- Wanda’s lightning works on him.
- Maple attempts Dispel Magic.
- Star starts to prepare more scrolls, then realizes his wind control is the better tool.
- Rangorn switches to the Sword/Wand of Force, trying to use a magical force blade against the gaseous form.
- Herman keeps dealing with the oozes on the ground.
The important realization is that Star’s wind power is a near-checkmate against someone in gaseous form. Star cannot shred Dennis with enough wind speed, but he can hold and move the cloud, preventing escape and positioning Dennis where the party wants him.
Dennis surrenders
As Star pins Dennis’s gaseous form with wind and the party lines up Dispel Magic, lightning, and Rangorn’s force sword, Dennis realizes the fight has stopped being fun and has become genuinely dangerous.
He reforms and surrenders.
Dennis throws down his weapons:
- A slingshot
- A battle axe
- A scimitar
- A bastard sword
Once the battle axe leaves his possession, Rangorn’s “everything is my fault” effect fades.
Dennis does not want to die. He offers a deal: if the party lets him leave and returns the scimitar, he will give them treasure, documents, and information about their real enemies — the people who hired him.
The party is not thrilled to let him keep the scimitar, but the bargain makes sense. Killing him would probably cost more lives, and the information may matter more than one mobility item. They negotiate the essentials:
- Dennis will leave the area.
- Dennis will call off or lead away as many of his followers as will obey him.
- Dennis will not return or seek revenge.
- The party will get his other magic items and the remaining sling-spheres.
- The party will receive his hidden treasure and the key information.
- Dennis will get the scimitar back only after delivering the money and the crucial information.
Dennis identifies himself as such — effectively “Dennis the Menace,” given the slingshot, traps, and chaotic prankster violence.
Dennis’s background
Dennis explains that he is related to Groroog — apparently Gurg was his uncle. The Slave Lords told him that the wind-god worshippers / Superstar! were involved in Gurg’s death and offered him money and magic to cause trouble.
Dennis does not seem deeply vengeful. The revenge angle was an extra bonus, not the core reason he agreed. Mostly, he likes money, mischief, and not dying.
He says he was hired by an “ambassador of the Slave Lords” while he was farther west, closer to Slave Lord territory. He had been causing them minor trouble, and the Slave Lords essentially paid him to stop bothering them and start bothering Cromwell and Superstar! instead.
The party retreats into Dennis’s room
The stronghold is still full of gnolls, ogres, trolls, and other flunkies. Dennis explains that if the party stays where they are, his followers will eventually come back and attack the wounded lowlanders.
He offers to lead them to his own room, which the followers will not enter, and then out through his secret exit. His room also contains more traps, but he can guide them past them.
The party agrees.
Maple, Herman, and Triton handle moving the horses and hippogriffs away from the danger zone. The main party retreats with the dead and wounded. Dennis keeps his followers from attacking and begins arranging for them to follow him back into the mountains over the next few days.
Emergency healing and raising the dead
The party spends time healing and preparing Raise Dead spells.
The damage is severe:
- Rosby is dead.
- Audrienne is dead.
- Rangorn is badly wounded.
- Allison, Wanda, Chiaro, Magic Lad, and Ethan are all at dangerously low hit points.
- Several characters are only alive because of fire resistance, saving throws, or quick retreat.
Chiaro’s extraordinary healing becomes essential. Star, Allison, and others contribute curing spells. The party decides not to waste Raise Dead scrolls if they can instead spell-shift and recover Raise Dead normally.
Rosby is raised first. He survives the resurrection roll, but the permanent-damage check is harsh because of how deeply negative he had gone. Rosby loses one point of Strength and one point of Comeliness, apparently due to fire/scarring and trauma. The result is bad but could have been much worse.
Audrienne is raised next. She survives and avoids comparable permanent damage, though she will need recovery time.
By the time the party is ready to leave, everyone is alive again, though Rosby and Audrienne need rest and civilization-level recovery.
Dennis’s hidden treasure and decoder
Dennis leads the party about five hours up a ravine to a hidden cave behind moved boulders. Inside is the money he promised.
He gives the party:
- 16,521 gp.
- 1,811 pp.
- Eleven 1,000-gp gems.
- A potion, identified as Potion of Invisibility.
- Coded documents.
- A small intricate nonmagical decoder badge.
The money is heavy enough that horses and pack logistics matter. The gems are part of the “true-up” for the bargain; Dennis admits that the buried coin pile was not quite as much as he had implied, then tosses over the gem pouch to make good on the promise.
The decoder badge is designed to read the Slave Lord documents. Dennis says he was supposed to burn the papers, but kept them as leverage.
Dennis explains the Slave Lord plan
Dennis tells the party that the Slave Lords supplied:
- The money.
- The magical sling-spheres.
- The trap instructions and parts.
- The decoder badge.
- The coded papers.
- Intelligence on Superstar!
He describes meeting a cloaked middle-aged human, half-orc, or half-elf lieutenant/ambassador of the Slave Lords in the mountains farther west. The figure wore leather armor, carried bow and sword, and traveled alone without apparent fear.
Dennis says the Slave Lords are worried about the party. They know Superstar! killed or defeated other dangerous forces and cultists. They spent real money because they saw the party as a serious problem.
The plan was part of a broader campaign of terror. Dennis was apparently one prong: hit from the front, lure Superstar! out, make the frontier seem too costly, and maybe get the party to quit pushing Cromwell’s line forward. He was told or led to believe that other groups were also in motion — “from the back” and “from the side” — though he does not know exactly what that means.
Dennis’s role was essentially a paid distraction/attrition operation. He was supposed to hurt Superstar!, kill some members if possible, and convince the party that advancing Cromwell’s frontier would be too expensive.
Dennis departs
After giving the party the money and decoder information, Dennis leaves into the mountains. He indicates he may be reachable through the same treasure cave as a dead drop if the party ever wants to hire him, though he is not interested in joining the side of law and order unless money is involved.
He promises not to return or seek revenge. The party returns the scimitar as agreed, letting him keep the item that grants gaseous form. He leaves with a pragmatic attitude: he lost months of work and some items, but he survived, and he knows better than to keep fighting Superstar!
Identifying Dennis’s items
The party identifies the captured items.
Hatchet Job
The battle axe is called Hatchet Job.
It is a +1 battle axe with a powerful blame/curse effect:
- The wielder picks a target within about 60 feet.
- That target suffers a broad -1 penalty: saves, armor class, attacks, and similar checks.
- There is no saving throw, though magic resistance may help.
- The axe must always have a valid target while wielded.
- If there is no valid enemy target, the blame redirects onto the wielder at double effect, creating a -2 penalty.
- If the axe is simply lying on the ground and not wielded, it does not need a target.
This was the source of Rangorn’s crushing “everything is my fault” feeling.
Spanner
The bastard sword is called Spanner.
It is a dwarven-made, nearly unbreakable sword:
- Normally a +1 bastard sword.
- +3 and double damage against golems.
- Can cast Stoneskin twice per month on a valid wielder.
- The Stoneskin activation requires proficiency with bastard sword.
- The Stoneskin lasts about one turn.
- Its main value is that it can affect golems reliably, which is rare and valuable.
The party notes that nobody currently uses bastard swords proficiently, though Ethan or another fighter may eventually consider it.
Sling-spheres
Magic Lad examines the remaining sling-spheres:
- The brown sphere contains a Grease-like effect.
- The yellow sphere contains a weak 4d6 Fireball.
- The gray sphere contains a compressed gray ooze.
The ooze sphere is potentially dangerous to store in an extradimensional space such as a Bag of Holding. The party discusses special padded/fur-lined boxes for safer transport. The fireball and grease spheres are easier to carry and may be useful for Maple, Herman, or hippogriff deployment.
Potion
The potion Dennis hands over is confirmed as a Potion of Invisibility.
The coded Slave Lord documents
The party spends the next few days decoding the Slave Lord documents while Rosby and Audrienne recover.
The documents contain several categories of information:
Trap instructions
They include detailed trap-building instructions and schematics. Many traps depend on fire, precision metal parts, or supplied magical devices, but Molly can still learn useful techniques from them.
The party later salvages some trap parts from the stronghold. This takes time, but the party decides it is worth the investment.
Detailed information on Superstar!
The disturbing part is that the Slave Lords have a surprisingly good dossier on the party.
The documents include:
- Good information on major party members.
- Solid lists of magic items.
- Notes on Star’s teleport-like movement.
- Notes on Chiaro’s extraordinary healing.
- Notes on Rangorn’s archery.
- Notes on the party’s reliance on missile fire.
- Notes that repeated area-effect spells are a strong tactic against much of the party.
- Notes that grease and similar effects can disrupt climbers/fliers.
- Specific advice to stay out of line-of-sight because the party has many dangerous archers.
- Suggestions for using lobbed attacks from cover.
- Recognition that some party members have graduated or are no longer present, such as Zippo and Lewis.
- Information on newer people such as Rosby and Ethan, though not in as much depth.
- Awareness of Farragut as highly dangerous and mobile, even though he may not currently be present.
The intelligence seems likely to have come through Barleyton-era sources, perhaps filtered through what the Slave Lords learned from the old warlord networks.
Target priorities
The documents put heavy emphasis on killing Chiaro first. The advice is not to target him with ordinary single-target magic, because he likely resists such effects, but to kill him with traps, area effects, falling rocks, crushing mechanisms, and similar indirect methods.
Star is also treated as a dangerous target, partly because even if the Slave Lords regard the Phaulkonian religion as weak, Star can apparently still ask for divine intervention and should not be allowed to do so freely.
Magic Lad is notable because he is the only party member described as better alive than dead. He appears to have some special hostage value, perhaps due to connections to elite magic circles or Mandred-related interests.
Maple is also potentially hostage-worthy, though the document warns that her shape-changing makes “dead rather than escaped” a safer default unless circumstances are controlled.
Most other party members are treated as better killed than captured.
Recovering the trap mechanisms
Star is interested in whether they can use the fort and dead-drop arrangements to catch messenger birds. The party also decides it is worth taking extra time to recover useful trap parts rather than simply burn or destroy the stronghold.
Cromwell is informed. Since Dennis’s followers are leaving, Cromwell’s response is to wait until the complex is empty and then destroy or reduce the structure. The party can take time first to strip useful mechanisms.
Molly rolls through a series of trap-removal checks. She succeeds often enough to recover several interesting components. The best salvage is a fire-suppression cylinder, apparently designed for libraries or laboratories to put out fires by sucking air in or suppressing combustion. It cannot simply undo a fireball, but in the right circumstances it may be useful.
The party also recovers other bulky trap mechanisms and precision components. Much of it is not portable in adventuring conditions but may be useful for future defenses, engineering, or sale.
Returning to Dorcen and recovery
The party returns to Dorcen. Because of travel with laden animals, injured people, and the recovery needs of Rosby and Audrienne, the party is fully recovered around February 7, 2198.
This gives them enough time to identify items, decode papers, hand off intelligence, and process what the Slave Lords’ involvement means.
The next crisis: hobgoblins marching toward Barleyton
While the party is recovering and planning, new intelligence arrives from the Realm.
A force of more than 100 hobgoblins is marching toward Barleyton. The Realm cannot legally stop them from leaving Realm territory without provoking a much larger conflict with a major hobgoblin tribe, but they do warn Cromwell / the party.
The party immediately suspects a Slave Lord operation.
Questions arise:
- Are the hobgoblins actually hired to attack Barleyton?
- Are they a feint to pull Superstar! away from Dorcen?
- Are they supposed to force the party onto a boat, where a maritime ambush awaits?
- Are other Slave Lord groups waiting to strike Dorcen if the party leaves?
- Is the whole thing designed to split the party and punish whichever region is left undefended?
The party considers reserving a fast boat toward Barleyton. The setup cost is about 800 gp, with another 2,400 gp if the trip is actually used. The fast route is dangerous: it passes along border waters and through risky territory.
Some party members are immediately suspicious that the “obvious” boat trip may be the trap.
Commune questions
Star arranges a Commune to clarify the situation.
The party asks carefully worded questions about existing contracts, plans, and orders, since Commune cannot simply predict the future or read intentions.
The answers are alarming:
- The hobgoblins’ contract does contain a path that leads to attacking Barleyton.
- The hobgoblins were hired directly or indirectly by the Slave Lords.
- Directions or instructions have been given for another group to launch a major attack if Superstar! leaves the Dorcen area within the next two weeks.
- A maritime ambush of Superstar! in transit to Barleyton is planned.
- The plans for the major Dorcen-area attack are dependent on Superstar! leaving the area.
- A question about whether the Dorcen attack involves summoned elementals is unanswerable.
- The planned attack is in the immediate area of Dorcen.
This confirms that the Slave Lords are running a multi-pronged trap:
- Threaten Barleyton with hobgoblins.
- Force Superstar! to rush toward Barleyton.
- Ambush Superstar! on the water.
- If Superstar! leaves, hit Dorcen.
Strategic discussion
The session ends with the party discussing possible responses rather than committing to a final plan.
Options include:
- Sending only the fastest people — perhaps Star, Maple, and hippogriff riders — to harry the hobgoblins while the rest of the party remains near Dorcen.
- Using illusions to make it look like Superstar! left when most of the party remains.
- Using illusions to make it look like the party stayed while key mobile people leave.
- Triggering the Dorcen trap deliberately while prepared for it.
- Avoiding the boat entirely because of the confirmed maritime ambush.
- Using a decoy boat or illusionary party to draw out the ambush.
- Contacting possible allies, such as Jennifer Hoekhil’s company or high-level Cromwellian responders.
- Warning central Cromwell that Dorcen is under conditional threat.
- Trying to learn more about where and how the maritime ambush is planned.
- Harassing the hobgoblins from the air with Call Lightning and other long-range tactics before they reach Barleyton.
The group recognizes that going “all in” on either Barleyton or Dorcen is likely the trap. They need a middle path that protects Barleyton without abandoning Dorcen and without letting the boat ambush destroy the party.
End state
By the end of the session:
- The strange “young giant” is revealed as Dennis, a mountain giant and nephew of Gurg.
- Dennis kills Rosby and Audrienne with fireball attacks before being cornered.
- Rangorn, Star, Wanda, Maple, Herman, and others successfully prevent Dennis from escaping.
- Star’s wind control against gaseous form proves decisive.
- Dennis surrenders and negotiates his life.
- The party trades back Dennis’s gaseous-form scimitar in exchange for treasure and intelligence.
- Dennis leaves for the mountains and agrees not to return or seek revenge.
- Rosby and Audrienne are raised; Rosby suffers permanent Strength and Comeliness loss.
- The party gains major treasure, a Potion of Invisibility, Hatchet Job, Spanner, and three magical sling-spheres.
- The party gains coded Slave Lord documents and a decoder badge.
- The documents reveal detailed Slave Lord intelligence on Superstar!, including target priorities and anti-party tactics.
- Molly helps recover valuable trap components from the stronghold.
- The party returns to Dorcen and fully recovers by about February 7, 2198.
- The Slave Lords are revealed to be actively orchestrating a campaign against the party and Cromwell’s frontier.
- A hobgoblin force is moving toward Barleyton.
- Commune confirms the hobgoblins, maritime ambush, and conditional Dorcen attack are connected to Slave Lord plans.
Strategically, this session is the point where the Slave Lords stop being a background regional menace and become Superstar!’s active enemy. Dennis’s stronghold was not just a monster lair; it was a paid, supplied, intelligence-driven trap. The party survived it, but the documents and Commune reveal that this was only one part of a larger Slave Lord campaign designed to split the party, kill key members, and halt Cromwell’s northwest advance.