The Titan

Start-class article · First seen: s06 · Last seen: s07
The Titan
the failed experiment · the giant
Portrait of The Titan.
Character
StatusDead
First seens06
Last seens07
FactionMaelis Dirn's operation

The Titan was Maelis Dirn’s soul-bound giant in The Warrens: a very large orc, wrapped in chains that dug into its skin and glowing with a purplish aura, whose shadows reformed where weapons struck and whose soul she had bound to fungal nodes in the Maze of the Minotaur [12][10][8][9]. In session 6 it stunned Hugo with a vision of what it had been [4]. In session 7, when Hugo destroyed the last node, it grew stronger, turned on Maelis and pounded her into mist, then took a last look at Hugo, “like he knows you”, and vanished [28][5]. Its full origin remains uncertain.

Overview

The Titan was the giant that Maelis Dirn kept on a soul-bound leash in The Warrens beneath Umbrafall. Her notes called it a failed experiment she had repurposed: the original work had been about enhancing the being, and she had spliced its soul into the biogloom and its root network under Umbrafall, first with three nodes and later with five [8][9]. The DM said it looked like “a very large orc” and that it was undead [10][11].

Its link with Hugo is the open question. In session 6 a vision showed Hugo the creature “not as it looks now but as it looked”, and in session 7 the DM spoke of “this person”, twisted into what it now was, who had called Hugo a name Hugo did not quite remember [4][6]. The Titan’s full origin remains uncertain.

Appearance and demeanour

A giant whose hand was the size of a man’s upper body, wrapped in chains that seemed to dig into its skin, with a purplish aura [12]. Shots and spells passed through it or tore away shadow that reformed where they hit [13][14]. In Hugo’s vision it was a giant ogre tearing an elf apart [15]. Maelis called it her “pet” [16].

Abilities as played

  • Boulders: it scooped up two stones and hurled both at Hugo for 13 and 18 bludgeoning [17].
  • Vision-stun: the same attack forced a Wisdom save; Hugo failed and was stunned, fighting the creature as it had been, until he cut its heel in the vision [4][18].
  • Regeneration: it knelt in shadow when hurt and rose again while its fungal nodes lived, at 60 per cent once two had gone [19][20][21].
  • No mind to command: Caelumn’s Command found nothing to command [22].
  • Fists: its blows put Vasquez down more than once [23][24].

Relationships

  • Maelis Dirn: captor, who claimed it (“The Titan is mine!”) and was killed by it [25][26].
  • Hugo: the Titan looked at him “like he knows you” before it vanished [27]. Hugo cut the last node that freed it [28].

Disposition towards the party

Hostile while Maelis controlled it, with no mind to be commanded. After the last node died its attention turned to Maelis, and its last look was for Hugo [5].

Notable quotes

“No more.” — The Titan, to Maelis, [29]

“he looks at you like he knows you” — Nick (DM), on the Titan’s last look at Hugo, [27]

History in the campaign

Session 4: The Still Current, the Black Mask, and Hugo’s Pact

Main article: Session 4

The Titan is known only as the pet giant that Maelis Dirn dragged through the streets of the Black Hollow Market to make examples, which The Broker said came out only when people did not pay [30][31]. Hugo, on a visit to his organisation, came back with the giant’s name: the Titan [1].

Session 6: Maze of the Minotaur and the Titan

Main article: Session 6

In Maelis’s notes the party found the Titan described as a repurposed failed experiment [8]. It then came out of the maze, chained and glowing purple, and shots passed through it [32]. It hurled stones at Hugo, and a failed Wisdom save stunned him with a vision of it as it had once been; he came out with 80 feet of movement to hunt its fungal nodes [17][33]. After twelve rounds two nodes were gone and the Titan was down, regenerating, when the session stopped [34][21][35][36].

Session 7: Maelis Falls, Vasquez Captured

Main article: Session 7

When Hugo cut the last cluster, the shadow storm in the Titan swelled and it grew stronger than ever, and the barrier around Maelis faded [37]. It came round the corner faster than before; as Maelis pointed her ring at it, it said “no more” and struck her twice: 15 bludgeoning, then a natural 20 for 34, pounding her into fine mist [26]. It shrank, calmed, and took a last look at Hugo before disappearing forever [38]. The DM later asked how Hugo felt about seeing this person again, twisted as he now was, and calling him a name he could not recall [6].

Session 17: New Hands, the Black Mask’s Renegotiation, and the Rimeclaw

Main article: Session 17

When Mike’s Detect Magic ritual on Hugo’s blood showed iron restraints, dark glass and a chamber with no clean air, Hugo asked whether this matched anything he had seen. The DM said it lined up with what the Black Mask had told him, and, asked about the Titan fight, that it lined up “a little bit with that environment” [39][40].

Status

As of session 23. Dead, or at least gone: the DM said it disappeared “forever” [27]. The party has not seen it since, and its origin and its tie to Hugo are unexplained.

See also

References

  1. ^ Session 4, line 1628-1630: Hugo learns that Maelis's giant is called the Titan.
  2. ^ Session 6, line 1226-1230: Maelis's notes on the Titan as a failed experiment bound to fungal nodes.
  3. ^ Session 6, line 1707-1726: First emergence; ginormous being with chains digging into skin, purple aura.
  4. ^ Session 6, line 1959: Hugo's Wisdom-save vision-trance ("pulled back into your own mind... fighting this creature not as it looks now but as it looked").
  5. ^ Session 7, line 610-615: Turns on Maelis; "no more"; killed her; shrunk and disappeared.
  6. ^ Session 7, line 942: The DM asks how Hugo feels about "this person", what he has been twisted into, and the name he called Hugo.
  7. ^ Session 17, line 1495-1496: The DM says Mike's blood-vision lines up a little with the Titan's environment.
  8. ^ Session 6, line 1230: Inline citation.
  9. ^ Session 6, line 1455: Inline citation.
  10. ^ Session 6, line 2002: Inline citation.
  11. ^ Session 6, line 2027: Inline citation.
  12. ^ Session 6, line 1714: Inline citation.
  13. ^ Session 6, line 1719: Inline citation.
  14. ^ Session 6, line 1871: Inline citation.
  15. ^ Session 6, line 2036: Inline citation.
  16. ^ Session 6, line 2735: Inline citation.
  17. ^ Session 6, line 1952-1959: Inline citation.
  18. ^ Session 6, line 2036-2052: Inline citation.
  19. ^ Session 6, line 1971: Inline citation.
  20. ^ Session 6, line 2140: Inline citation.
  21. ^ Session 6, line 2817: Inline citation.
  22. ^ Session 6, line 2017: Inline citation.
  23. ^ Session 6, line 2140-2146: Inline citation.
  24. ^ Session 6, line 2820-2821: Inline citation.
  25. ^ Session 6, line 2412-2414: Inline citation.
  26. ^ Session 7, line 610-614: Inline citation.
  27. ^ Session 7, line 615: Inline citation.
  28. ^ Session 7, line 571: Inline citation.
  29. ^ Session 7, line 610: Inline citation.
  30. ^ Session 4, line 1506: Inline citation.
  31. ^ Session 4, line 1584: Inline citation.
  32. ^ Session 6, line 1707-1719: Inline citation.
  33. ^ Session 6, line 2036-2056: Inline citation.
  34. ^ Session 6, line 2792: Inline citation.
  35. ^ Session 6, line 2900-2903: Inline citation.
  36. ^ Session 6, line 2933: Inline citation.
  37. ^ Session 7, line 571-579: Inline citation.
  38. ^ Session 7, line 614-615: Inline citation.
  39. ^ Session 17, line 1483: Inline citation.
  40. ^ Session 17, line 1494-1496: Inline citation.