Steading of the Hill Giant Chief

Moving quietly to the intersection, Fernal pauses at the first door to listen. At the rear, Legeia carefully passes into the hallway, Aelfric closing it behind you before moving back to his place in the line. At the door, there is nothing of note, and this wing of the giant stronghold appears to muffle the sounds coming from the feast hall. Similarly, no sound emanates from the other two doors.

The hallway leading north is intermittently lighted by flickering torches, their smoky fumes providing a heady oil and ash smell. At the far end of the hallway you can see it ends in a door. Though that end is dark and shadowy, you can make out moving shadows beneath the cracks.

Julian
Smoke fills an odorous kitchen, which features two large trestle tables covered with pots, kettles and bowls. Counters along the walls are likewise cluttered with wooden utensils, jugs, mugs, and plates. Barrels are piled near the tables, and various cheeses, smoked meats, and sausages hang from the blackened rafters. Simmering in the hearths are two fat iron cauldrons overflowing with hot broth. In front of the hearths and tables are a group of giant maids wearing stained leather aprons, screaming instructions at a host of orcs and their young ogre taskmasters, who scurry in and out of a pair of large double doors to the east.

Fernal
From the other side of the door, you can hear grunts, squeals and the bellows of giants. The clanging of pots and sounds of metal-on-metal, as if someone were stirring a massive soup pot, can be heard. The occasional groan and creak of doors opening and closing can be heard as well.

Quickly regrouping and heading back, you return to the eastern hall that runs north. Up front, Fernal can see where the corridor widens, and a set of massive doors lead into the feast hall on one side, and the kitchen on the other. Just as you get about halfway down, Julian calls a quick halt to the party. The door to the feast hall opens and the hallway is flooded by the now-unblocked shouts and laughs of a host of giants. A pair of orcs, puny compared to the giants and ogres populating the steading, carry empty trays back toward the kitchen. Though you are in the relative open, neither appears to notice you and they pass to the west, through the kitchen doors.

Moving quickly and quietly down the hall, you all manage to get past the doors without being noticed; something incredible given that you have a Pegasus traveling behind you. Reaching the smaller door leading into the back end of the kitchen, you all move to take up positions surrounding Fernal.

As you arrive, Korgazhar notes that the corridor you are in continues for perhaps 70-80' before ending in a large door. No sooner than you get set to open the kitchen door, than the hallway door opens and a grotesquely fat hill giant appears. Behind him is a large room, and you see a pair of females inside. The male giant, however, has apparently not seen you, as the females call out and he turns to see what they want.