The main tavern of Hold Red Tide is packed shoulder to shoulder, warm with smoke, stew, and victory. Long tables groan under trenchers, mugs, and cut joints of meat as most of the hold celebrates the hill giant’s death.
Kalazan enters beneath the beams while cheer still rattles the rafters. At the far end, a bruised stone splinters with each impact from outside, rocks thunking against the closed gate far below.
A few heads turn toward the sound. The room keeps eating, but the laughter thins at the edges.
Unit Captain Brann
Boss, one of the hill tribe is still out there. He keeps hurling stones at the gate and shouting for his kin.
Brann wipes his mouth with a knuckle and jerks his chin toward the door, where a server freezes mid-step with a full tray. Across the room, a gully dwarf pauses with a flagon held tight to his chest.
The Server
Do we bar the doors, or keep the feast going?
Kalazan
The gate is holding.
Another rock slams the outer wall, dull and distant. The tavern falls quiet enough to hear spoons stop against bowls.
Unit Captain Brann
Say the word, and I send a squad to finish the job, or we can lock the hall and wait for your orders.
+ Scene Quest Added
Deal with the hill giant outside the gate
“I tell them, have the gate gaurd fire our heavy cross bows at it”
SUCCESS (Good Leadership, rolled +2)
Kalazan
Tell the gate guard to fire the heavy crossbows at it.
Brann snaps upright at once and barks the order down the hall. Chairs scrape back. The feast room shifts from noise to motion in a breath.
Unit Captain Brann
You heard him! Heavy crossbows, to the wall! Aim for the giant, drive him off!
Boots thunder away. At the outer gate, bolts sing through the dark, their iron heads flashing as they slam into the stone at the giant’s feet and shoulder him back from his perch.
The Server
Thank the hearth... the feast stays inside the hall.
A roar rolls up from outside, furious and startled. The next thrown stone veers wide and crashes harmlessly against the cliff face instead of the gate.
A Gully Dwarf
Heh. Good shot. Big one hates that.
From the stairwell, a runner shouts that the gate ward stands firm, and the giant is now exposed on the causeway with nowhere to brace his throws. Brann looks back to Kalazan, hard-eyed and ready for the next command.
Quest Complete
Deal with the hill giant outside the gate