Concerning Shalin and Havoc's tale, if you'd like some tabletop details, open the spoiler below:
Here are a few facts about The Last Resort's battle with Gannog the Destroyer. Enjoy. =)
1. Jotunheim Giants have double the Hit Dice of their mortal counterparts. Gannog was a 20th level giant not counting his Barbarian levels. The party was about 15th level. This does not include his Barbarian powers and abilities. When Gannog raged, his hit points totalled over 300. Despite the party's buffs, the Jotunheim Barbarian could hit anyone in the party except for the paladin on a 3 or better on a d20.
2. Gannog possessed a Giant-sized Keen (double chance of critting) great axe +5 that, during the first round of combat, critically hit one of The Last Resort for 98 hit points of damage in a single hit. That character had 4 hit points left after that hit (the player just about had a heart attack). =)
3. The Last Resort had prepared and researched their opponent like never before and it paid off in the long run. Although it came close several times, no one in the party died. They also displayed the kind of teamwork that only comes with years of adventuring together (Real Life years). For example, Kaerri, fresh of health for the moment, took an attack of opportunity from Gannog so that their paladin could get back into the fight. That simple act might have saved the party from ruin and death.
4. The Last Resort came away with a stunning amount of treasure, so much in fact they could not haul it all away. Just getting to the treasure, looting it, and making away with it was something of a side adventure (some of the items were intelligent and were attempting to sway the party one way or another; the trap on the door to the treasure was DC 30 to inspect and DC 40 to attempt to disable; the trap turned out to be a Hellball custom spell that did 10d6 damage 4 times, each time with its own damaging element [yes, that's 40d6 damage if all 4 saves were failed]. Through good role-playing and using their heads, they found away around the trap).
5. After talking the party into fighting Gannog, with many utterances of confidence and battle ideas, their paladin, Ragnar the Bold of Thor (NPC) declared his joyous delight and surprise, after the battle basically exclaiming, "We should not have been able to win that combat! Go team!" Surprised, the rest of the party wanted to send Ragnar back to Valhalla when he divulged that (O.K., not really, but close). =) Ohhh, those paladins. =)
I'd like to point out that neither of the PCs had any knowledge of #1 in that spoiler. *Kaerri-the-half-elf mock-glares at Ragnar*