Chaos at Tanner's Bridge

If the party took more than five rounds to wrap up the fight at the gate, consider having the giants here already lugging around a sack or two of prisoners. For some added dramatic tension, have one of the dire bears menacing a villager up against the wall of a building as the PCs arrive.

The stone giants do their best to work in tandem with the bears, flanking PCs whenever possible to boost the bears' poor attack bonus. They try their best to mark targets the bears have grabbed so that they can make use of their Hardened Threat power when the hero shifts after escaping the grab. I suggest the following encounter for a party of five adventurers:

• 2 Stone Giants
• 2 Dire Bears

Total: 4,400 xp (Level 13 Encounter)

PC Objectives

• Slain Masters: If the stone giants are reduced to 0 or fewer hit points before either of the bears is defeated, the bears retreat if they are left alone. Each PC regains the use of an expended daily power and may spend a healing surge.
• Efficiency: If the encounter is completed before the end of the seventh round of combat, each PC regains the use of all encounter powers with the Healing keyword.
• Thankful Townsfolk: When the encounter is completed, each PC regains the use of up to two expended encounter powers of their choice, and may spend a healing surge (even if unconscious).

At the conclusion of this encounter, the PCs should start noticing signs of Longtooth's appearance: fires, cries of "Dragon!" and even the beast himself diving towards the garrison or cathedral.