After the group has retreated from the eruption of the fire bats from the fire lake, Alexis sits with the Crimson Calling on the steps between the two levels. He adjusts his whip.
“Good. Now we know what’s in the fire.” He looks at Rask, Gustav, and Ca’armine. “First, the bats. Then we try talking to the giant again.” A slight pause. “He must be desperate for conversation by now. Desperate might work in our favor.”
He glances up toward where the giant would be.
“How long does he think he’s been here?”
He lets that sit for a moment, then continues.
“If talking doesn’t work, we have options. That unnatural forest below, we can harvest from it. We could build a ballista again.” He waves a hand slightly. “Long shot.” Alexis looks at Ethelred “But maybe you can find something in that idea worth working with.” He looks at Ca’armine. “Raiden can reach him too. The determined wall of the north, your bolts. That right?”
“If it comes to it, we hit him from range, keep him from throwing those boulders, rest, come back the next day. Repeat. Not my preference, but it works.” A beat. “We might need more food if we’re doing this over days. Gus, you have options. Rask, Carm, you two as well?”
He looks at Gustav, Ethelred, then Rask.
“Any of you have anything that reaches at this range?”
Alexis takes a moment and looks at all his comrades. “But that’s just where I’m starting. Any other ideas? Rushing to the stairs? Blinding the giant somehow if we need to? Something else?”
Rask shakes his head and replies, “With these short bows it will be very difficult for me to damage that giant, and I’m getting low on arrows.”
He looks to Gustav to see if Gustav has any better assessment.
“I can probably jump into the shadows at the base of the stairs, but then I’m behind the giant by myself. I’m not connected to the Raw Power of Aegir here, and the way that giant looks… if that giant is anything like Hadonis’ stone giants I don’t think I can take more than one or two blows from that sword.”
“First the bats. Then the Giant.
Hmm… I have some fire spells. With sometime to study I might be able to convert them into cold.
If only we have more materials… and time.”
Alexis nods along to the idea of bats and then giants.
Alexis looks down at the forest level below. “What materials do you need? Branches? Bark? Stone? Mist?”
“Water would be the best place to start.”
Alexis nods back down to the forest below “plants have a lot of water. And the air is pretty humid down there.”
“Interesting. There is a lot of vegetation. But we would have to be careful as there are many thorns that I personally would not want to be pricked by.
We might want to fully explore this level, and deal with any threats, before we get too deep into harvesting.”
“Agreed, except on the thorns. I only saw thorns of any substantial quality on the rose bushes. There’s plenty of vegetation below that was just thick. And moist.”
Rask nods along and we the conversation about magic lulls a bit he speaks up.
“Bats first is a good call. We can deal with the bats. A little protection from fire might be helpful, but I’m more worried about the giant throwing rocks at us.”
“Alexis, do you think you can keep the giant talking and not throwing boulders at us while we take care of the bats?”
“It seems unlikely. Although Raiden could keep him from his boulders. Creating a wall between himself and the boulders could be very interesting. And very painful for our friend.”
“Raiden’s spear of healing also does damage, and I can probably hit the giant with them. I will need to prepare for that, and you all have to avoid needing me to use one of them to heal you! I also have the mace, it might be a better weapon against the giant if I can get to a vital target. Do we think he may be from another plane? Could we try banishing him?”
“Charming him would be the better option, compared with battle. I can add some toughness to Red so he can get behind the giant and do some damage if that fails.”
Alexis nods his head slightly at Ca’armine.
“Banishing is interesting, but unlikely. Creatures in the Gigantinae family, your standard giant, are native to our plane. Same home as us. Creatures in the Jotuninae family are a different matter entirely, extra-planar, from somewhere else entirely.” He pauses. “There are those at the Collegium who’d argue that birthplace matters more than essence. That our friend up there,” he motions toward the fire giant, “might have been born somewhere of pure fire and could theoretically be sent back.”
He produces a silver coin and turns it once.
“My bet is he came out of a volcano. Common story with his kind.” He pockets the coin. “Which means he stays put when we try to banish him.”