Written by John Fiore using the Four-Round Variant, the Potential/Actual Impact Variant, the Generika Fantasie original world, and the World vs. Hero solitaire rules; illustration by John Fiore




Want to be Frok's friend? Don't bother. Frok has a hammer and he will use it.

Frok was not raised in a tribal setting nor in a warrior clan. He came from a family of merchants in lower Glimmerhope, but his large size, unmannerly ways, and antisocial disposition led him to reject civilization and become a wild man of his own making. Now, Frok roams the land unsuccessfully looking for ways to make himself less miserable while hitting things with his hammer. If he should ever champion the weak or save the day in any way, it is purely by chance.







Interpretation: The humans of Glimmerhope have lately been lagging in their vigilance against incursions from the giants of the Harrowing Hills as there have been very few problems of late. This, though, has emboldened the Hill Giant Ploovis, a particularly cunning brute, to devise a clever plot to do something terrible and unexpected to the humans while they rest too easy...


ADVENTURE LOCATIONS: Harrowing Hills (Recurring Location) and Spontaneous Locations developed by Mythic.



Round 1 - Establish Adventure Location, Harrowing Hills
After two days in his former home of Glimmerhope, Frok the self-made barbarian wanted to eat his own eyeballs just so he could stop seeing all of the happy townsfolk around him. Cheer and goodwill abounded, and, if he had to witness anymore displays of kindness and love, Frok was sure to wretch. Thus, since the word going around was that the Hill Giants had ceased to attack humans, Frok decided that Harrowing Hills would suffice as a proper refuge from the gadflies of joy that nipped at his miserable heart. What could possibly go wrong there?




WP 1.1 - Access 6S, Being, Aggressive/Ambush/Enemies
Potential Impact: Moderate; Actual Impact: Moderate
Interpretation: Someone jumps Frok, and he won't like it.
Is this a Hill Giant? (Likely) Extreme No
So, it's a human being then? (Likely) Yes
More than one? (50/50) Yes
How many? (1d6) 2
Are they criminals? (Likely) Yes

Within the first thirty minutes of grumbling his way through the Harrowing Hills, Frok was beset upon by a pair of human thieves! These parts had long been known as a favorite hiding spot for brigands and ruffians on the run from the law of Glimmerhope, and now two of them had taken Frok's otherwise lousy day and made it much more unpleasant indeed!


HP 1.1 - Access 5D, Use 9D, Survivalist
Potential Impact: Moderate; Actual Impact: Moderate

Despite the inconvenience, a good wilderness survivor knows the lay of the land before ever stepping foot on it, and Frok was fully aware of the dangers of flora, fauna, and fools in the Harrowing Hills. The ambush by desperate thieves, then, was no more surprising in the Harrowing Hills than getting one's ankles nibbled at by the carnivorous plants. Frok launched immediately into one of his most potent survival techniques when attacked by bandits - vitriolic derision!

"Ya bunch o' pansies! Hiding in the weeds? What if I hadn't come along? Would you've jumped a wood skunk? Well? Would you? Proper thieves would be robbin' a minister's purse or the like! But you two...pffft! I'm embarrassed to be attacked by the likes of you!"

The bandits stared dumbfounded by the large, put-out barbarian.

"Wankers," Frok added with a sneer.


WP 1.2 - Access 10C, Being, Aggressive/Violate/Masses
Potential Impact: Extreme; Actual Impact: Moderate
Interpretation: An aggressor or more are now on the way toward Frok.
Is this a Hill Giant now? (Likely) Yes
Multiple Hill Giants? (Very Likely) Yes
Indirect Impact (as it is unlikely that giants would just pop out of nowhere)? (50/50) Yes

And just as Frok was deciding between attacking the thieves with another round of snide comments or with a thumping of his great hammer, the sounds of Hill Giants stomping toward them erupted through the hills. Accompanying the sounds of pounding feet was the tone deaf singing of a traditional Hill Giant war song, reserved for occasions of mass pillaging:

"Fee, fau, fum,
It's to your town we come!
We'll squash your veggies and eat your mum!
Fee, fau, fum!"


HP 1.2 - Access 9D, Use QD, Survivalist
Potential Impact: Moderate; Actual Impact: Low

"Hill Giants comin' this way!" Frok muttered to the thieves. "I'll bet they can smell you two!"

The thieves exchanged panicked expressions.

"Me," said Frok, "I smell like dirt, and I like it that way. I can hide from their big noses, but you two can't, so shove off!" The barbarian gave the thieves a dismissive wave.

Again, the thieves exchanged looks of utter dread, and, in a split second, silently decided their course of action:

They simultaneously hid behind Frok.


WP 1.3 - Access QD, Hill Giant War Band
Potential Impact: Extreme; Actual Impact: High
Direct Impact? (Very Likely) No!
(Complex Question) So, what are they indirectly doing? Proceedings/News

While the thieves cowered behind Frok, the barbarian readied his great hammer, The Basher. Fully expecting a fight, Frok growled with simmering rage at the tremendous inconvenience he was having in the Harrowing Hills today. Suddenly, just when all seemed predictable - stomping, war song, and, in a second or two, a big honking fight scene - the situation turned decidedly stranger in the form of a new verse to the Hill Giant War Song:

"Fee, fau, fum,
That verse was awfully glum!
Instead of fighting, let's all be chums!
Fee, fau, fum!"


HP 1.3 - Access 6S, Wrestler
Potential Impact: Low; Actual Impact: Moderate

"They're wantin' to be friends?!?" Frok exclaimed. "With Glimmerhope?!? Bollocks!" And with a deft maneuver of torso and limbs, Frok was able to grab both thieves in an inescapable headlock. "Right! We'll see about this friendship rot! I wonder if they'd like to be friends with the two of you!"

Frok started walking toward the sounds of the marching Hill Giants, dragging the struggling thieves alongside him.


WP 1.4 - Access 5D, Cave Bears
Potential Impact: Moderate; Actual Impact: Low Impact
Are the Cave Bears acting like guards to the giants? (Very Likely) Yes
How many? (1d4) 3

As Frok gained sight of the marching giants, he also came upon three cave bears, the ferocious beasts used so very often by the Hill Giants to guard their homes and hunt with them. These three bears were as big and nasty in appearance as any other Frok had seen from a distance, but they did not directly attack.

They shimmied.

Whenever Frok tried to move around them to get past the bears, the animals maneuvered to block him. It happened enough times to make it clear that this was what the creatures had been ordered to do - to keep watch along the perimeter of the war band without attacking, probably to maintain the pretense of the supposed friendship-bearing giants.


HP 1.4 - Access 10C, The Basher
Potential Impact: Low; Actual Impact: Moderate

Frok got flustered by the dance he was doing with the cave bears, particularly because he never danced, whether literally or figuratively. With a rough shove, he tossed the thieves down to the ground, bellowing, "Don't move or I'll throttle your tiny brains out!" and then he whipped out The Basher.

"Errrraaarrrrrraaaaa!" Frok yelled as he swung the great hammer around and around and around and around.

The bears, obeying their orders not to attack, lumbered away from the threatening barbarian without a second look. Frok picked up his captives in either arm, and proceeded toward the Hill Giants.


WP 1.5 - Access 9D, Being, Aggressive (again!)/Transform/New Ideas
Potential Impact: High; Actual Impact: Moderate
Interpretation: The force that leads the "good" giants does not want Frok's interference.
Is this Ploovis, the giant mentioned in the premise? (Likely) Yes
Does he differ from other Hill Giants? (50/50) Yes
(Complex Question) How does he differ? Imprison/Information

One of the Hill Giants who saw Frok advancing on their ranks immediately broke away from the group and headed straight for the barbarian. He was a big, ugly brute wearing furs hanging from two broad shoulders, but even more broad was the glowing smile curled upon the giants tanned and hairy face.

Yes. A Hill Giant was smiling.

"No trouble here, friend," the giant said to Frok while holding out two empty, ham-sized hands. "I Ploovis. I give my people new ideas. New way to live." Ploovis tapped his temple with a thick, dirty finger. "I have new thinkings stuck in my head."

"Yeah, like what?" Frok challenged.

Ploovis smiled more broadly. "We be all friends!"


HP 1.5 - Access QD, Use 5D, Survivalist
Potential Impact: Low; Actual Impact: Moderate

"Sorry, mate, but I know my lore!" Frok snorted rudely and spat on the ground. "Hill Giants hate humans! Always have, always will! I'll be a Goblin's washcloth if you lot really are plannin' on making nice with Glimmerhope!"

Frok stomped two more paces toward Ploovis. The thieves could barely breath as the barbarian's hold tightened around their necks. "Let's have a little test, shall we?"


Round 2 - Establish Adventure Location, Harrowing Hills
Frok stormed past Ploovis and headed straight for the front of the happy marching Hill Giants. A trail of two pairs of lines traced his path, furrows dug in by the heels of the hapless thieves stuck in the barbarian's grip.

As soon as Frok made it to his destination, he threw down the gasping thieves before the front line of the Hill Giants and bellowed, "Right, then! Let's see you all make nicey-nice!"




WP 2.1 - Access QC, Hill Giant War Band
Potential Impact: Extreme; Actual Impact: Extreme
Do the giants try to make friends with the thieves? (50/50) No!
Do they attack? (50/50) No
(Complex Question with new chart) So, how do the Hill Giants act? Lazily/Horrible

The Hill Giants appeared dumbfounded and confused, some looking blankly at Frok while the others stared wide-eyed at the thieves, drool dripping from their thick lower lips. Ploovis watched nearby, seemingly uncertain about what would happen. Frok merely tapped his right foot impatiently, a grumpy pout on his face.

"Urrg," one of the giants grunted.

"Eh," came another.

"They thieves?" asked one of the giants. "Looks like 'em thieves."

"Yeah. They're thieves," Frok said. "You wanna eat 'em?"

"No," exclaimed a giant. "Thieves is bad! We mock them! Bad thieves! Bad thieves!"

And the chanting of "bad thieves" grew louder and louder as every member of the troop of Hill Giants joined the chorus...a chorus of creatures of chaos now proclaiming their disdain for antisocial behavior!


HP 2.1 - Access 3H, Character Assumption, Gut-Instinct Follower
Potential Impact: Low; Actual Impact: Moderate

"'Tain't right," Frok muttered to himself. "Unnatural..."

Slowly, Frok backed away from the Hill Giants who were crying out for proper behavior from the thieves. The thieves themselves weren't sure at all what to do.

Slinging his hammer over his shoulder, the barbarian, sufficiently creeped out, abandoned the thieves and walked briskly away from the Hill Giants in the same way he had once briskly walked away from a drunken female wereboar in heat.


WP 2.2 - Access 3H, Locale, Incidental/Dominate/Lies
Potential Impact: Low; Actual Impact: Moderate
Interpretation: Something part of the land instigates uncharacteristic behavior.
Is this what is making the Hill Giants act strangely? (Very Likely) Exceptional Yes!
So, this is the source itself! Is it flora? (Somewhat Likely) No
Is it fauna? (Somewhat Likely) No
Is it the water? (Somewhat Likely) No
Is it a mineral? (Somewhat Likely) Exceptional No!
Oh! So, the opposite of something hard of the earth is soft of the air? (Very Likely) Yes
Is it a mist or fog? (Very Likely) Yes
Does it "march" with the Hill Giants? (50/50) Yes!

However, no sooner had Frok strode enough paces away from the Hill Giants to feel sufficiently distant from their weirdness when he came upon a fog that hung just a handspan off the ground and moved ever so slightly in the same direction the Hill Giants had been marching.

Frok looked back. The thieves had taken off, and the Hill Giants resumed their march, grumbling clumsily once more into the perverted happy version of their war chant. Their glazed-over eyes were locked onto the fog in front of Frok, and they appeared to be following it...

...on its way toward Glimmerhope.


HP 2.2 - Access 4D, Use AD, Survivalist
Potential Impact: Moderate; Actual Impact: High

Frok's preferred manner of problem-solving - bashing things with his hammer - would not work against fog, nor could he be sure the fog was of natural origins. One thing he knew for certain from his many years spent living outdoors was that on bright, sunny days like today, thick fog dissipated rather quickly. It did not remain cohesive and mobile like this wide wall of thick mist. Whatever was happening here, Frok knew he was looking at something quite bizarre.

Frok licked a finger to check the direction of the wind. "Toadspit!" he exclaimed. The wind was westerly. Glimmerhope was to the east. That meant the fog wanted to go to Glimmerhope, and it might have also wanted the Hill Giants to come with it.

Either the fog would make Glimmerhope an even more nauseatingly happy place than it had been, or these Hill Giants were up to no good. Either way, Frok was pretty sure both possibilities would eventually increase his grumpiness, and that would not do.


WP 2.3 - Access 7S, Jupiter Bloodsucker
Potential Impact: High; Actual Impact: Extreme
Does it grab Frok? (Near sure thing) Yes
Is the threat "extreme" because of the fog, too? (Likely) Yes

But as Frok tried to outmaneuver the fog - to find a way around it to beat it back to Glimmerhope - his big legs suddenly staggered in mid-stride. Wrapped around his ankles were thick vines and jagged leaves that wound their way up his leg rather quickly, led by hollow thorns looking for a soft fleshy spot to puncture their way into Frok's bloodstream. It was a Jupiter Bloodsucker, carnivorous flora, a horrid thing that Frok knew well enough to avoid. However, the bizarre behavior of the giants and the fog had rendered the barbarian less cautious in the wild than he typically was, and now he was about to become dinner for a plant.

Unless, of course, the fog got to him first. Thanks to the hungry plant, Frok remained fixed in the mysterious mist's inexorable path as it glided toward Glimmerhope. In seconds, the fog would would swallow him up while the Jupiter Bloodsucker enjoyed a sip or two of Frok's warm life essence.


HP 2.3 - Access 7S, Wrestler
Potential Impact: Low; Actual Impact: Moderate

Frok had wrestled men of all sorts - brigands, brutes, and, once, a baker (easy one, there) - and beasts of all sorts - goblins, griffons, and, once, a giraffe (another easy one). This Jupiter Bloodsucker would be no different! Using every bit of muscled, Frok successfully avoided being jabbed by the plant's searching suckers, but he was still held fast in place as the fog got closer and closer and closer...


WP 2.4 - Access 4D, Archer Bush
Potential Impact: Moderate; Actual Impact: Moderate
Does it also go after the stuck Frok? (Near sure thing) Yes

Adding more injury to the insult of being bested by a plant, an Archer Bush that competed for prey with the Jupiter Bloodsucker uprooted itself and ploddingly headed toward Frok. It fired thorn missiles at the struggling barbarian, hoping to slow him down as he tried to wrest himself free of the Bloodsucker.


HP 2.4 - Access QC, The Basher
Potential Impact: Low; Actual Impact: Low

Wrestling his great hammer free, Frok began smashing at the Jupiter Bloodsucker, pounding its vines and leaves back into its very roots in the hope that he could set himself free.

But the effort was not enough. The fog grew closer, and so did the Archer Bush...


WP 2.5 - Access AD, Open Space
Potential Impact: Low; Actual Impact: High!
Is the impact high because no cover enhances a conflict? (Very Likely)
Speeds up the wind? (Likely) Yes

And, to make all matters worse, the wind picked up at that very moment in the direction the fog wanted to travel, and it suddenly moved more quickly...

...and Frok was engulfed in it!


HP 2.5 - Access AD, Use 4D, Survivalist
Potential Impact: Moderate; Actual Impact: Low! (Uh-oh.)

Not knowing exactly what to do as the fog enshrouded him entirely, Frok closed his eyes and held his breath.

Yep. That's all he had.


Round 3 - Establish Adventure Location, Harrowing Hills
Frok's eyes were shut tightly, his fingers pinched his nostrils shut, and his cheeks were puffed out with held breath. The Jupiter Bloodsucker held his ankles tight, and the mysterious mist now surrounded him.

Bugger, Frok thought to himself.




WP 3.1 - Access 2C, Brigands
Potential Impact: Low; Actual Impact: Moderate
Are these the same thieves as before? (Unlikely) No
How many? (1d4) 2
(Complex Question) Why have they arrived? Carry/Allies
Were they friends of the previous thieves? (50/50) Yes
(Complex Question) How are they a conflict for Frok? Betray/Randomness
So, they've come deliberately to give Frok trouble for endangering their associates? (Very Likely) Yes

Suddenly, Frok heard the vulgarities and taunts that were unmistakably human and uneducated closing in on him. He dared not open his eyes or mouth while he still felt the mist all around him.

"Oy! Big Man!" came a shout from a ruffian. "Y'ain't so tough wif yer knees all bunched up in the veggies, eh?"

"Yeah," added a second voice. "Let's see how you like being left for the giants!"

And with that, Frok took a punch in the gut that normally would not have phased him. Unprepared and holding his breath, Frok's stomach caved in with the fist that pounded him and his mouth and lungs opened with a gasp.


HP 3.1 - Access AC, Use 2C, The Basher
Potential Impact: Moderate; Actual Impact: Extreme Impact! (Love these new rules!)

As he'd promised himself long ago, Frok would meet his end swinging. If this lowlife had just caused him to inhale his doom, Frok was sure he'd make him pay!

Summoning all of the fury that comes with being appropriately labeled a "barbarian," Frok roared in anger and sent The Basher whirling around! He ripped through the Jupiter Bloodsucker, struck the first brigand in the chest, and clobbered the second across the back. Both men went flying backwards, rolling down the hill toward the oncoming Hill Giants.


WP 3.2 - Access 7H, Jupiter Bloodsucker
Potential Impact: High; Actual Impact: Low!
Could the impact be diminished by the mist as well as the hammer? (50/50) Yes!

The Bloodsucker responded in its usual manner to a threat - by trying to suck the life out its aggressor. But the plant's attack seemed almost half-hearted, as if it really wasn't trying that hard to hurt Frok.

Clearly, the mist was affecting the plant. Soon, Frok would succumb as well, now that a stupid brigand had caused him to breathe in the tainted air around him.


HP 3.2 - Access 2S, Character Assumption, Runner
Potential Impact: Low; Actual Impact: Moderate

Frok, free of the Bloodsucker's grip, leapt over the plant and ran ahead of the mist and out of the range of the Archer Bush.

But had he gotten out of the fog soon enough?


WP 3.3 - Access AH, Use AC, Open Space
Potential Impact: Moderate; Actual Impact: Low!
Does the openness help the fog against Frok? (Likely) Yes (but not by much)

The openness of the hills allowed the fog to swirl around with complete freedom. Though Frok stood in a place where he thought the fog would just pass him by while he waited, the phenomenon moved slowly in a new direction, as if to recapture the barbarian that it had just lost.


HP 3.3 - Access 7H, Character Assumption, Stalwart
Potential Impact: Low; Actual Impact: High!

Frok narrowed his eyes and stared down the fog. Sure, he was being pursued by a cloud skimming the ground slowly and he could have easily outrun it, but Frok had never backed down from a fight, not even one against a creature his hammer couldn't necessarily damage.

"You don't scare me, ya air puddle scum!" Frok shouted at the fog. "And I'm still as fired up as I was the moment I woke up this morning, so you've no effect on me, either! I don't know what you are or what I can do to ya, but you can bet I'll not lose today, ya Happy Cloud Monster!"


WP 3.4 - Access AC, Use AH, Open Space
Potential Impact: Moderate; Actual Impact: Moderate
Does the fog react to Frok's taunts? (50/50) Extreme Yes!
So, it's intelligent? (Near Sure Thing) Yes
Is it threatened by Frok? (50/50) Yes
So it uses the freedom of space to improve its position? (Very Likely) Yes

The Happy Cloud Monster, apparently concerned by Frok's defiance, suddenly changed the course of its gliding and moved over to the staggering brigands who had just stumbled back to their feet after being pummeled by The Basher, consuming them.

In seconds, the weakened men began to smile and careen like the Hill Giants, and they soon joined the parade of the passive as the Happy Cloud Monster resumed it's course for Glimmerhope.


HP 3.4 - Access AH, Character Assumption, Stalwart
Potential Impact: Low; Actual Impact: High, again!

"Not so fast, air scum!" Frok bellowed. "Ya tipped yer hand, there! You're making an army of happy idiots, but I was too cross for your powers, so yer leavin' me be! Well, it ain't that easy, sunshine!"

Frok held The Basher over his head and charged forward, yelling, "Frok don't like being ignored!"


WP 3.5 - Access 2S, Use 2C, Brigands
Potential Impact: Moderate; Actual Impact: Low

The newly inducted happy brigands turned around and faced the oncoming Frok with open arms, as if obeying a psychic summons to distract the barbarian with friendly overtures.


HP 3.5 - Access 2C, Use AC, The Basher
Potential Impact: Moderate; Actual Impact: High

Frok's charge toward the Happy Cloud Monster and its retinue of the dumb never slowed for a moment when confronted by the cheerful brigands standing between the barbarian and his quarry.

"Hey, guy," said one of the brigands to Frok, "let's be chums."

"Chum this!" replied Frok, and, with a swing of The Basher, both brigands went head-over-heels tumbling down a hill until they landed face-first into a patch of poison ivy.

"We end this NOW, cloud!" Frok bellowed.


Round 4 - Establish Adventure Location, Harrowing Hills
Barreling through the assembled Hill Giants and their cave bears, Frok charged straight up to Ploovis, the giant who had tried to stop the barbarian from interfering the first time. Holding The Basher forward to directly threaten Ploovis, Frok stood his ground, forbidding the smiling giant to pass.

"Hello, friend," Ploovis said to Frok with a grin.

"'Friend' my bum! Yer the one with the ideas in yer head, right? Ploovis. So, tell me, friend, where'd you get these ideas, eh?"

"The cloud," said the giant. "It makes all happy. We want all to be happy."

Frok grunted. "And where'd this cloud come from?"

"Cloud is friend," said Ploovis.

"Friend?" Frok smirked wickedly. "You sure say that word a lot. Funny, though. There's no word like it in Hill Giant language. Did the cloud teach ya that?"

Ploovis's smile quickly faded and his lips twisted into a sneer. "Couldn't leave it alone, could you, warrior?"

Ploovis's eyes began to glow.




WP 4.1 - Access 4C, Archer Bush
Potential Impact: Moderate; Actual Impact: High
Does Ploovis affect the Archer Bush (50/50) Yes
Is it magically enhanced to become High Impact? (Yes)

"I don't have time to waste on you," said Ploovis quite articulately now. He waved his hands in the air. "You’ve taken up far too much of my precious time." With a surprisingly graceful flourish of his thick arms, Ploovis teleported the Archer Bush that had previously attacked Frok a few yards away. It now materialized to Frok's left and fired its thorns at him.


HP 4.1 - Access 3D, Use 8D, Survivalist
Potential Impact: Moderate; Actual Impact: High!

Knowing that Archer Bushes can't really see and their aim is imprecise, Frok didn't panic when the vicious shrubbery appeared and launched its venomous thorns. He threw himself backwards and tumbled head-over-heels back up to his feet as the plant's projectiles whizzed harmlessly past him.

With only seconds before the bush fired a second volley, Frok thrust himself forward to close with Ploovis.


WP 4.2 - Access 8D, Hill Giants
Potential Impact: High; Actual Impact: Extreme!
Are they protective of Ploovis? (Very Likely) Yes
Do they attack Frok? (Very Unlikely) No

As Frok raised The Basher to clobber Ploovis, the frontline of Hill Giants grabbed the endangered giant and raised him above their heads, keeping him out of harm's way.

"Wo!" shouted Ploovis, surprised by the save. "Easy, friends, easy!"

And the march continued onward, now with Ploovis riding on the thick, hairy-knuckled hands of his followers.


HP 4.2 - Access 9S, Use 3S, Wrestler
Potential Impact: Moderate; Actual Impact: Low

"Toadspit!" Frok yelled. The barbarian slung The Basher back over his shoulder and plunged into the crowd of giants carrying Ploovis to reach is quarry once more. Unfortunately, no matter how many dumb, happy Hill Giants Frok wrestled along the way, he couldn't shake off enough of the brutes to cause Ploovis to come down to the ground one more.

And the outskirts of Glimmerhope could now be clearly seen in the distance...


WP 4.3 - Access 3S, Use 3D, Happy Cloud Monster
Potential Impact: Moderate; Actual Impact: Low

The evil fog remained on its trajectory toward Glimmerhope, but Frok noticed that it was beginning to slow. In some moments, it even seemed to waver.

Did Ploovis need to be steady to be in control of the fog? Was he losing his concentration while being carried?


HP 4.3 - Access 3S, Use 9S, Wrestler
Potential Impact: Moderate; Actual Impact: Moderate

"You'll be wantin' to come down, I take it," Frok yelled to Ploovis. "Yer losin' control of yer cloud."

The barbarian continued to wrestle with the Hill Giants keeping Ploovis aloft, while Ploovis himself seemed to struggle to decide what was best for him to do.


WP 4.4 - Access 3D, Use 3S, Happy Cloud Monster
Potential Impact: Moderate; Actual Impact: High!
Low to high? Is this a result of Ploovis's loss of control? (Likely) Yes
Is the Happy Cloud Monster a spell? (50/50) Extreme Yes!
Extreme? So, it's a rare conjuration? (Very Likely) Yes
(Complex Question) What happens when it isn't under control? Persecute/The physical

The Happy Cloud Monster suddenly stopped proceeding toward Glimmerhope, hovered where it was for a moment, and then turned a strange hue of sickly green. Swirling around, the fog became dense and solid-looking; its thick, billowy form began moving again, but this time it was headed back toward the Hill Giants!

"No!" gasped Ploovis. "Put me down! Put me down!"

But the request came too late. The cloud plowed into the crowd of Hill Giants, smacking them with a physical attack that rivaled its mental one! Hill Giants were tossed aside in blasts of arcanely-charged air, and Frok himself was buffeted by the force as well.

Confused by what was transpiring, the Hill Giants did not fight back, and the cloud effectively throttled enough of them to cause Ploovis to come crashing to the ground.


HP 4.4 - Access 8D, Use 3D, Survivalist
Potential Impact: Moderate; Actual Impact: Moderate

Frok had seen and been made miserable by out-of-control magic too many times in the past to go up against the now-angry cloud. Wizards never knew when to leave well-enough alone, and the end result was always pretty terrible.

The only person in the vicinity with any chance of surviving the onslaught of the spell-creature was Ploovis, so Frok headed directly toward the giant.

"Dispel it!" he yelled at Ploovis as Hill Giant bodies were thrust helplessly into the air. "Ya ain't gettin' it back, so just get rid of it!"


WP 4.5 - Access 9S, Ploovis
Potential Impact: High; Actual Impact: High
Does Ploovis dispel the cloud? (50/50) Yes!

"Fine!" Ploovis replied, and with a wave of his hand and a muttering of arcane words, the giant cast away the cloud which disappeared into nothingness.


HP 4.5 - Access 4C, The Basher
Potential Impact: Low; Actual Impact: Moderate

"Thank you," Frok said to Ploovis.

And then he hit the giant squarely in the stomach with The Basher.

Ploovis doubled over with a wheeze, his form shimmered strangely, and the hill giant transformed into his original personage - that of the notorious Midnight Wizard Bizzin Fallgrace, one of the most notorious chaotic mages from the Poison Quarter of Glimmerhope.

Frok looked down at Fallgrace and sneered. "Figures," he said.

Spitting on Fallgrace made Frok feel better than he'd felt in weeks.



The Midnight Wizards of the Poison Quarter were always up to something nasty, and, every so often, one of them would get hold of black market black magic that makes a mess of everything. That was the case with Bizzin Fallgrace's acquisition of a Cloud of Will-Shaping spell.

Frok didn't care much for the why's or what's of Fallgrace's plan, but it was clearly something bad that needed to be stopped by someone who cared - usually someone NOT Frok. However, thanks to Frok's naturally ultra-intense bad attitude, the cloud was unable to numb his sensibilities, and the barbarian inadvertently saved the day.

After handing Fallgrace over to the Glimmerhope authorities, Frok decided not to return to the Harrowing Hills. There were several annoyed thieves and bruised Hill Giants who might have a fuzzy recollection of what had transpired during the day, and some of them might want to seek revenge on Frok for some perceived mishandling.

Considering his options, Frok decided to head toward the Bloodsurf Coast. Even the fish are awfully miserable over there, and there'd be little chance of even a speck of joy sneaking up on him, let alone an entire cloud of it.

Besides, the sea air would do Frok good...