Impossible Task Number Two!
Inventory of the rich stuff Bardas Phocas had on him: a Ring of Flying, a Rod of Having Really Opulent Clothes and a Sweet-Ass Pavilion, Potion of Change Self, a half-giant-sized hornblade, and a cloak of some kind. All Chyrsopolis's now!
Their part in the defeat of Bardas Phocas assured (in that they killed him), the Danger Gang returns to Wales to polish off some more busywork from the Lady of Avalon, and get a little revenge on Jack IV for having them dropped out of the sky a while back. Zombres, Magic Jarred into the hag captured in the disappearing castle, gaining her massive strength...and then polymorphing to look like his old self. BUT STRONG LIKE RUSSIAN TRACTOR
And here's how you hack a giants' castle ruled over by a little twerp with some powerful magic items (Cloak of Invisibility, silent Shoes of Elvenkind, Cap of Telepathy, Sword of Giant-Killing): Map Jack's feast hall with Clairvoyance, buff up like whoa, augur to make sure Jack's at table. A Team (Zombres, Arben, & Al) teleports into the hall's firepit; B Team (Gershom, Kolya, and Marcella) flies underneath the castle and stoneshapes a tunnel up into said hall as well. Jack immediately knows A Team's there and turns invisible, but Zombres can still see him; Arben plays first his Horn of Luring, drawing some giants closer to Chaos spell range, then switches to his Pipes of Panic. The fighters whale on their enormous foes as best they can (Marcella manages a whopping 94 points of damage in one round, which sends her assailant fleeing) while Gershom casts Hold Person on Jack and Zombres tries to grapple Jack through a Dimension Door...unsuccessfully, but after both teams run/fly like heck outta there, Gershom comes back to feint a parley while carrying Zombres's life-force in a gemerald. Z. manages to take over JIV's body and abscond with him! There is presumably much rejoicing in the castle at the departure of their iron-fisted leader.
Still, now they've just got a jerk and not Telyn Teirtu (the harp the Lady requested). And an angry Jack tells them it's guarded by a ferocious dog! But then Kolya just wang-crowns him into telling them where it is and Gershom sends an Aerial Servant after it. They gently persuade Jack to cede ownership so the damn thing will shut up. Then, after much internecine debate, the DG takes Jack's shoes and repatriates him, figuring at least he keeps the giants from dropping rocks all over the Welsh countryside. Gershom goes the extra mile and Enlarges Jack for a romp with his wife in hopes of producing a half-giant heir. Which is Italic texttotallyItalic text gross. While they get over their heebie-jeebies, they plot their approach to the fearsome sea boar Twrch Trwyth, whose shears & comb are the last items they need to maybe get to talk to Isaac the Sungerian Horse. Meantime, Zombres graciously gives the hag back her body and Quests her back to the castle where they found her. He ran off with a giant's body from the cloud castle, so it's not like he needs her anymore.
