Episode Sixteen - I got a plan,

Borkum and company discover the Hill Giant encampment. Its worse than they think.

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Transcript

Borkum Season #2

Episode 4

The wolves all turned their heads in our direction.  The Hill Giant took a step towards us and then another step, and then another step. The wolves began closing in. I could see the saliva dripping from their mouths as they thought about having their next meal of elf and human. 

“Here they come,” I whispered.

Hawk Tuah and Brindle readied their spells. Edward notched an arrow. Elaria gripped her mace tightly. And, Lykxnzzl drew out both of his daggers.

“Let them get closer,” I whispered.

My heart was pounding. The wolves slowly stepped towards us, their muscles taught and ready too spring. I could hear the Hill Giant laboring to breathe as he climbed the hill. We might have just enough advantages to hold them off. For a brief moment. But I was not sure if we could win this. 

“Steady,” I whispered. I had the sudden urge to piss.  “Steady” I whispered to myself trying to keep myself under control.

The wolves cocked their heads. Did they just hear me?

The cold rain was coming down harder. I prayed it would rain even harder. 

The giant and the wolves were about 25 yards from us when we heard a giant crashing sound behind us. We turned, thinking a giant had snuck up on us from behind, but, then we hear a great baying, and a giant deer emerged from the bushes and bolted to the south. The wolves gave immediate chase, howling in pursuit of their newfound prey. The Hill Giant looked again in our direction, confused, and then lumbered off in pursuit of his wolves.

I am not too proud to admit this, but I wet my pants. 

“Let’s make like ducks and get the flock out of here,” I yelled.

The Giant Deer gave us the break we desperately needed, and we opted to flee the hill going in a northerly direction. We broke out into a run and sloshed through the muddy terrain as best as we could.  In the dark it was tough going; we slipped and stumbled on the slick mud. The low hanging tree limbs slapped us in the face. We ran for almost an hour, not sure where we were going, we just had to put some distance between us and the giant. 

We stopped running and staggered to catch our breaths. We had to get some rest. Looking around, we found an enormous fir tree with low hanging limbs that we could crawl up under.  We pushed loose and broken limbs to the edge of the fir tree and dug out a shallow pit area to lie in and conceal ourselves.  It was much drier here under the fir as the water beaded off the tree limbs outward. We struggled to catch our breath and collect ourselves. It has been a close call. To close.  I told everyone to get some sleep, and I would keep watch.

I again took the first turn as my friends quickly fell asleep from the utter exhaustion of the night. The scent of the evergreen was pleasing and for a while I was able to relax.  I reached into my pack and pulled out a piece of bread and munched on it in the dark while I stared out into the darkness. And, then I nodded off into a deep sleep, the smell of my own piss mixed in with the pleasant evergreen scents.

Hawk Tuah woke me up with a kick to the side. Startled, I grabbed my axe and prepared to swing. And, then I realized I was under the tree. The sun was high in the sky. All of us slept long into the morning, exhausted from last night’s ordeal. 

“You ass Borkum. You are asleep on the watch. Seriously, pull yourself together.” Hawk Tuah remarked.

“So sorry, so sorry,” I mumbled. I screwed up. I made a rookie mistake. I could have cost everyone their lives.

I crawled out from under the tree and looked about. We were on the edge of a shallow canyon. If we had run any further, we would have fallen over the rim, and down into the canyon. We had stopped just at the very edge. 

As I stood there soaking in the warm sun, enjoying the view like I was on holiday, and quietly thanking the old gods and the new for our good fortune, it was then I noticed the encampment. I fell to the ground and crawled forward looking over the edge of the canyon.

It was the Hill Giant encampment. We had found it by pure luck. And, by the looks of things it was all bad luck.

I looked back at the others and motioned excitedly for them to get down and they immediately did so. They crawled forward and joined me looking down at the encampment.

The Hill Giants had a fortified encampment. They had built a circular palisade from rough cut trees from which they could defend from if attacked with a frontal assault. There was a rough-hewn log cabin in the center of the encampment surrounded by several other tent and lean too shelters. Multiple other buildings were in various stages of construction. A massive fire pit was in the middle surrounded by logs where the giants could sit and enjoy the fire and roasted meats on the spit. In the side of the canyon wall was an earthen tunnel. It appeared recently dug out. We could see on occasion a hill giant or ogre go into the hill side or emerge from the tunnel.

In a large pen was a herd of cattle and horses waiting to be eaten or sold, or whatever they did with them. 

There appeared to be a dozen hill giants moving logs, building the structures or butchering the cattle. And several ogres in their company doing menial labor. And there was a pack of wolves, asleep in the encampment. Dire wolves. Like we had encountered last night. 

“Honestly old boy, I rather hoped we would not have found these fellas,” Lykxnzzl said, matter of factly.  

“Borkum, I don’t have enough spells for this many giants,” Bridle confessed. 

“Now you tell me this?” I replied exasperated.

“You think I got Magic Missiles just coming out my ass?” He replied angrily. 

“They outnumber us at least three to one Borkum!” Hawk Tuah exclaimed quietly. “I think we need to retreat back to the town and get help.”

“I hate to be the cleric of calamity here, but I think we need to retreat also,” Elaria offered up.

Before I could respond to their overwhelming logic, we saw a human woman emerge from the long house. I could see she was shackled and hobbling. 

“My sister! That’s my sister!” Edward shouted. 

The young lady was carrying jugs from the long house to the nearby spring.

“Thank the gods she is still alive!” Edward exclaimed. “I have to go get her!”

Edward went to jump up and fortunately, Lykxnzzl was quick on the uptake and tackled him to the ground before he could be discovered.

“Patience Edward, Patience. You won’t do your sister any good getting captured yourself.” Lykxnzzl cautioned Edward as he struggled to get up. 

“We have to save her,” he cried out.

I looked at the faces of everyone. They were right. We were seriously outmuscled here. I mean, even to my barbarian brain it was obvious this was now a death wish. Edward looked at me and I could see him starting to tear up. If we turned and left, we would most likely leave the poor girl to her death. If we attacked, we would most likely die in the rescue attempt. And become tonight’s dinner for the giants.

Edward could see the party was leaning towards leaving. Sensing the desperation of the situation, he began sobbing, “we can’t just leave my sister. Please, Please I am begging you.”

To be honest, I liked the kid. And, seeing the desperation of the situation triggered something in me. I could feel a rage building that I did not know existed.

“Let’s talk this through,” I asked of everyone.

We huddled closely together. And I started the conversation. “I don’t want to abandon Edward’s family. So, let’s come up with something. A frontal attack here is useless. Even if we could defeat the dire wolves, there are at least 3 giants or ogres for each one of us. And, to be honest, I did not realize they were so big.”

Brindle nodded, “We cannot attack without an advantage. If we wait till dark, we might have some benefit. But not much. I can manage a few magic missiles and a fireball or two and light the place up. But, I don’t have enough firepower for this many giants.”

“I could sneak in and scout things out during the night.” Lykxnzzl offered up, and definitely stick one in the back, but it will probably only piss him off.”

“I might be able to charm a few wolves,” Hawk Tuah added.

“From this range, I could hit the giants,” Edward commented. “But twenty arrows is not enough, not against giants of that size. I need more arrows.”

“Honestly, now that I have seen those giants, I think the Mayor was right, my axe may not be enough to bring them down. I just want to be honest.”

Honestly, my hubris had gotten us into a situation where we could not win. My simple brain was thinking hard and fast. I needed to adjust my goals. Keep us alive.  What could I accomplish here? And, then it struck me. An idea began to form and coalesce in my primitive barbarian brain.  I did not need to kill all the giants. I just needed to kill one and bring back his head. I also needed to rescue Edward’s sister. That was simple enough. 

“I got a plan,” I said smiling at my friends.

“I smell piss,” Hawk Tuah replied.