5/8/1150 – They meet again at Wodemar’s and this is what they learned from both Lughausen and Wodemar combined:
“I learned a little bit more. I confirmed what I told you before. She traveled with Duke Ulrich, but her name is only mentioned in passing. I found an account of Ulrich describing companions he met who were then killed while on a super-secret mission that took them far, far to the south outside the known realm. Nothing I read indicated what that mission was about, except that Ulrich returned, apparently successful. This was mere weeks before the historic joining of armies at the siege of Arhus from countries that created the Coalition of Peace. Further, this is a discrepancy I can't explain. If she was met by him after he went south on the trip, and died there, how could there be a tower here. Unless she built it before traveling down there. Again, I can't explain it. This definitely seems like a mystery that needs investigating. This will take you outside of the Confederation, and it will be dangerous. I will pay you 1,000 gp to see if this tower still exists and has any useful information. Bring back what you find. I cannot travel there myself to conduct research, I'm afraid. Imagine, the possibility of a pre-cataclysm wizard tower, heretofore unknown. At least unknown in all the circles I have traveled in. Somebody knew about it since they drew the map. That also might be an idea. I don't know if there are any cartography marks on there. An expert might help you there.”
Lughausen remembers the name of a cartographer, an elf, Hastos Morvalur, who has been known to draw maps for the Confederation and the Order of Coins. But then they reconsider because they aren’t sure they want to show the map around. Better to keep it under wraps. From what they can tell, it seems quite old. Instead they will investigate the tower first, then consider showing it.
They leave his house shortly afterward and buy horses for the journey. They consider taking the water route with a boat, since there is a river that runs right up to the tower, but that river passes through the great wall. It is unclear if that passage is open. Instead, they will travel overland parallel to the wall and then the river to get to the lake where the tower is. They set off immediately.
Later that day they encounter a wild owlbear which attacks them, but it is dealt with fairly easily. They learn that the horses spook easily but they get them under control. Towards dusk they come across a small stream, a good place to water the horses and perhaps make camp. However, a displacer beast also is there drinking and they must fight it. Again, it isn’t too difficult an encounter. The night passes.
5/9/1150 – Early in the morning, just after morning prayers as the sun is just about to rise they are attacked by a pack of dire wolves. The wolves had surrounded the camp and howled just before closing in. Everyone is awake. The battle is vicious at first. Two horses are slain almost immediately and a third nearly is killed by having its throat ripped out. Lughausen is mauled by two wolves and goes down. Torchon had climbed a tree to shoot from while Sven crossed the creek to take on two himself. Jak also climbed a tree to use his magic at a distance. Torchon heroically climbs down to heal Lughausen, then goes back up again and Lughausen is able to keep himself and Baptiste, who also came to his rescue alive. Finally all the wolves are dealt with. They can no longer all ride, so they have pack horses to carry what they find back. After a short rest they continue on.
They reach the towers where the small river crosses beyond the great wall. Massive gates are there and closed. It would have been impossible to get a boat through. They start going down the river. After a time they spot a small clearing not too far away and hear noises in it. The encounter an ettin with a deer carcass and two plain wolves at a small pool. He is skinning the deer but hears the party and is ready. The two wolves are handled easily with Torchon’s bow and Sven’s axe. The ettin wounds Sven fairly severely, but the concentrated fire of the power takes it down. Torchon spots the ettin’s tracks and they follow it back to a smelly cave that is the ettin’s lair. Inside they find a rotting chest full of coins, gems, and items. They gather it up and continue on.
Soon they find that the river is entering a marshy area and as they travel it gets worse and worse until it is a full-blown swamp. Torchon has to lead them on a meandering path to find high ground suitable for traveling. As the swamp opens up and the trees recede, they are able to see the tower in the distance. They see that it is on the other side of the lake. Sven remembers that the map shows it on the close side of the lake. They dismiss that as a cartography error, or a change in the terrain in the centuries since it was drawn. Then they notice the crocodiles.
These crocodiles are swimming to shore, and it turns out a couple have already reached shore and are coming from the sides. The party readies for combat. However, before they do, a Halfling hops out of the bushes she was hiding in and runs towards the group because the crocodiles will clearly get to her first. She stands next Lughausen and takes out a shortbow and starts shooting at the crocs. The rest of the party joins the fight as the crocodiles surround them. On a couple of occasions one gets a hold of someone’s leg, but usually they manage to free it before too long. Lughausen, however, isn’t so lucky and is knocked unconscious by a combined attack of crocodiles. He is healed by Brimstone Jak and soon after the last crocodile is slain.
They question this newly arrived Halfling, suspicious of her arrival at this moment in the swamp. She tells her story, that she was in a guild of assassins that questioned her allegiance. To test her, they required her to kill her own sister. She refused and killed them instead. The last, the guild leader, came out here where she faced and killed him a ways off. Then she saw the tower and decided to investigate and came upon the party just as the crocodiles did. The party is skeptical at first of her usefulness, but decide that bringing her along would be best.
So they move on traveling through the swamp for the rest of the day. Torchon finds a decent camping spot and they rest. During second watch, in the middle of the night, Torchon and Lydya hear a noise. They wake everyone but Jak as a shambling mound attacks their campsite. They pepper it with arrows at first before it engages Baptiste and Sven. It attacks Sven, hitting with both of its appendages and then engulfing him whole. A short time later, he escapes but is again engulfed when the plant creature pursues him. However, the combined efforts of the rest of the party is enough to destroy the creature and free him.
5/10/1150 – Because of the encounter in the middle of the night, they have to rest further in the morning than normal. Lughausen has a strange feeling about the tower in the morning, but doesn’t know what it is. As they travel towards the tower, they get a sense that they just aren’t making any progress towards it. Torchon’s natural proclivity to the wilderness is stymied, and it surely must have a magical nature to it. They travel anyway and encounter a creature that bursts from the water and attacks Torchon. It has two giant pincers and tentacles from its mouth. He is wounded but manages to escape its reach. Sven is grappled again by a pincer, but once Lughausen casts a spell, it zooms in on him, carrying the grappled Sven with it. Fortunately, Lughausen is able to stay out of its reach and it is dispatched before too long. After a short rest, Lughausen is able to pierce the veil of the illusions of the tower, having deduced that they must be present. After all, they remember that Salinga Penne was an illusionist. He is able to sort of lead them for a short time towards the tower.
Then yet again a creature stealthily creeps up on the party as they are walking and attacks with surprise. Again, it is Torchon who is targeted but this time it is a giant crocodile. And again, its bite grapples Sven while the rest fight it until it is killed. Unfortunately, after the fight, Lughausen loses his direction on the tower and they waste the rest of the afternoon trying to find their way again. Until Sven recognizes a landmark and they continue and reach the edge of the lake. Here they camp.
5/11/1150 – This morning they wake up and the tower has shifted position again, and seems on another side of the lake. Are they on the west shore? The South? No one knows and they again do their best to try and figure things out. The muddle about along the short until they see some ruined buildings that could have once been docks. And going out into the lake is a submerged and mostly destroyed man-made causeway. They are very cautious, and consider that it may be trapped. They venture on it after much deliberation with Sven a full 30 feet ahead of the party, followed by Torchon and the rest. They get about halfway across when they see creatures swimming under the water towards them leaving wakes. It turns out to be giant toads who leap to the attack. Sven, being so far out ahead is suddenly surrounded by three on his own. The toads bite and grab with their mouths and Sven is suddenly swallowed by one. Deprived of a meal, the other two attack the rest of the party, a pattern that repeats as then Baptiste is grappled and then Lydya. But they both escape. Sven had chosen to just attack instead of trying to get out of the mouth and paid for it by being swallowed. In short order, however, the toads are slain the party takes a short rest.
Further along the causeway they finally manage to get past the illusions and the tower is now solidly ahead of them on a small island. There are two ruined buildings, one of which is next to a run-down dock. Lughausen notices movement at the building next to the docks and they go to investigate. They see a stationary figure that looks like a scarecrow next to the building. Paranoid, Torchon shoots it with his bow, followed by Lydya. As they get closer they see more of the stationary scarecrows, some of which appears to be hiding behind trees or in the water next to the dock. The scarecrows don’t move at first, but as the party gets closer they turn terrifying glares on the party. Mostly the effect of the glares are shrugged off, but a few times Baptiste and then Sven are paralyzed with fear. The party’s weapons aren’t doing full damage to these constructs either but Lughausen’s spells do. He also tried to turn them at one point to no effect, learning that they are not undead.
Finally, one by one the scarecrows are taken down. Lughausen has spent all his spells, so the party decides to take a long rest before going further.
5/12/1150 – The next day is clear, and they can take stock of the tower. The tower rises from a first story that is a much larger cube about 12-15 high, so probably one story. The tower appears to be 4 or 5 times that height and has no crenellations, but instead has a peaked roof. There are no windows except some very narrow slits here and there. They can see double doors in the western face, where the causeway is. Upon the walls of the first story are statues of gargoyles.
As they near the doors a man appears in immaculate purple robes, long blond shoulder-length hair, and glasses. He looks at each of the party expectantly, saying “Well?” Baptiste, in the front, attempts to make an introduction and inquiry about the tower, but after hearing a few words, the man frowns and says “No? None of you? Very well. Defensive protocols are active, leave or perish.” Then disappears. Immediately four of the gargoyles animate and attack. Torchon and Lydya hit them with bow strikes first, but the damage is shrugged off. It appears they are resistant. The battle takes some time because none of the party’s weapons are fully effective, but in the end the last gargoyle is destroyed. They take a short rest, then turn their attention to the door. Double reinforced doors, there is a keyhole which Lydya investigates. She sees no trap, and picks the lock. Unfortunately, she missed a poison needle, taking a bit of damage but has no other ill effects from the poison. They open the doors to a fine hallway with rugs and eight suits of polished armor, four to each side. The hall ends in another set of double doors. Fearful of more traps and the suits animating, Baptiste goes in alone, prepared to run back out should they start moving.
However, as they do, he did not anticipate the rug itself moving and grabbing him. He is engulfed. The others attack the rug and do damage to Baptiste as well. Sven holds the door as the animated armor rushes up to attack. Some of the armor holds the back door. Baptiste is able to free himself, fortunately and the battle that looked so one sided starts to even out. It takes time and resources in the form of spells to take the armor down one by one. The last 2, and another animated rug guard the other end, and the party carefully fights them until they are destroyed. They park themselves in the hall and take another short rest. An examination of the armor reveals that it is more ornamental than utilitarian.
After the rest, someone suggests that this entrance may be a decoy whose purpose is to distract and kill intruders. Perhaps there is a secret alternative entrance to be found. Baptiste and Lydya go outside and walk the perimeter searching. They find nothing. Then the party determines to forge ahead. Beyond the doors is a hallway and they turn left. They find a fine dining hall, then a room full of display cabinets, empty, and paintings. They see a variety of portraits as they open the door, but the room is unlit. Baptiste goes in first and starts looking at portraits. Torchon goes in too to see further in the room with his darkvision. A moment later they feel a breeze and they see a whirlwind forming just as Jack also goes in to look. It is an air elemental and it attacks.
Baptiste moves up, ready to attack it and it breezes by him. He takes a swing at it and it engulfs Jack and Torchon. Torchon is flung into a wall, smashing a display case. Sven and Lydya start their attacks as well. It is resistant to their non-magical weapons as well. As the fight progresses, it again engulfs two of the party, this time Lydya and Baptiste. Lydya dodges while Baptiste is thrown into another display case and knocked unconscious. Torchon jumps on more display cases to get to Baptiste to heal him, but he stumbles and falls, destroying more cases in the process. Ultimately the elemental is taken down and the party must rest again for a short time. While they do so, they see that the cases while empty definitely held something at one point. Above each is a portrait and Lughausen and Jack’s history lore enables them to identify a few:
1. A man in black robes with white hair, carrying a valise.
2. An in-the-trenches human warrior with a nasty scar, scowling, wearing all utilitarian armor and weapons
3. A dwarf warrior, looking serious with battleaxes
4. A human in shining armor with a pure white shield
5. A human in leather armor wielding a black spear, a pair of hand claws at his feet.
6. Johann Bauer - a nondescript looking man with a sly look in simple clothes, yet casts a shadow of a devil. Legend has it that he turned on Duke Ulrich Grimscht and allied himself with devils. He was revealed as an agent of Loghi.
7. Aradil - another nondescript man with his hand behind his back in leather armor. He was another betrayer of Duke Ulrich.
8. Yaltan Lunchwicz - armored warrior bearing a flaming axe, bald-headed and scowling with a distrustful look. Champion of Arawn, he lived and died and lived again in her service but was a close confidant of Ulrich.
9. Duke Ulrich Uli Grimscht - red robes, average looks, but with a piercing glare. A headband holds a jeweled lens over one eye. The legendary hero of pre-Cataclysm times.
10. Stormcloak - full armor wielding a golden spear that glows with divine light, but quite human looking with an angry glare. The High Priest and chosen of Nuath.
11. Master Wolfram - a man in shining plate, with a white shield of Hysor bearing a glowing longsword. A decorated paladin of Hysor who found one of two holy swords in the known realm.
12. Dray Drawknife - wears armor with a sword, yet has a book in one hand, casting a spell with the other. A wizard who was known to wear armor and wield a sword, he was a stalwart companion of Duke Ulrich’s
13. Smythe Bloodstone - a man in earthen-toned robes, a looming rock elemental in the background. He was a master of elementalism, a type of magic practiced by wizards and lost in the Great Cataclysm
14. A man in polished shining armor bearing a distinctive looking glaive. A balance is etched into the chest of his armor.
15. Jean-Jacques de Toulouse - a human in blue robes with wild hair, and a shadow that looks quite demonic with a wicked sword. A conjurer who betrayed Duke Grimscht and served demonkind, attempting to assassinate him over and over again.
16. Otto Glockenspiel - a foppish looking warrior with light armor, a mustache, a hat, and a contract in his hand. An early companion of Duke Grimscht who died early in his adventures.
17. A lady in leather armor with a falcon on her wrist.
18. A human in leather armor bearing a halberd with a distinctive flourish
19. A beautiful woman in robes of green wearing striking earrings.
They speculate about these people, all companions of Duke Ulrich. They refer to the book that Jack has but are unable to identify anyone further. They move on.
Across the hall is an office for the Master of the House. They find payroll, supply lists. They learn the size of the household staff and see that records here go from 1040 to 1082. They are surprised to see the dates and wonder at them since they do not match up with the dates that Mistress Salinga was known to have lived and traveled with Ulrich. Lughausen takes these documents. They see that Salinga had regular dinner parties sometimes up to 20 people but no guest names are found.
Down the hall, they encounter servant’s quarters, a kitchen, a storeroom, a pantry, and a privy for each the staff and for guests. They see that the supplies are magically preserved, yet still look old. There is enough to supply the residents for some time.
They move down to the southern half of the building. Next, they encounter an armory. Lydya helps herself to a light crossbow and Baptiste to a halberd. Next, they encounter an office with two desks. Seated at one is a vicious armored figure that rises and draws its sword and shield. Most of them go in to attack. Baptiste and Sven at the forefront and the others at range. Lydya puts her back up to the other door in the room and is surprised when a moment later it opens to reveal another armored figure. The fight goes down to the wire and both Baptiste and Lughausen are knocked unconscious. But the figures are destroyed. The party must take a rest now because spells are gone and potions have been used.
They go into the bedroom where they just fought since it has only one entrance and take a short rest. It is still not quite time for a long rest since it is so close to when they last rested. A short rest will have to be enough to forge on. They continue down the hall skipping over the stone door for now, and take the next door on the right. There they find a dining room, empty but with a desk and a metal door behind it. Like the stone door, they decide to save that for later. Across the hall from that they find a small meeting room with a table and more importantly, a map of pre-cataclysm Ap Wys. Lughausen immediately sits down to copy the map. They also intend to take it down and take it with them when they leave, but in case it gets damaged they want to copy it first. That takes up some amount of time. The rest simply watch for danger while he works.
When he is finished, they go to the last wooden door. Behind this they find the captain’s quarters. As soon as Sven opens the door two bolts of flame hurl from the shadowy corner, but miss him. An armored figure, covered in spikes and wielding a longsword and a shortsword is there hurling the flames. Battle follows as Baptiste and Sven corner it, while the others scurry for a clear line of fire with ranged weapons. Lydya changes from a crossbow to her rapier and dashes in and out of battle seeking her openings. During the fight they determine that this isn’t a construct like the others, and is breathing. They talk about subduing it for capture, but Lughausen notes an infernal presence. Brimstone Jak takes it down with an eldritch blast so the matter is moot. The body vanishes in infernal flames leaving the whiff of brimstone in its wake. They search the room and find nothing of importance. They return to the stone door and open it to see stairs leading down into darkness.
They go into the mess hall and examine the metal door. Lydya finds no traps and easily unlocks it, scurrying to the back after. Sven opens the door and a trap is triggered. Poisoned gas fills the entire room and spills out into the hallway. Fortunately, everyone avoids its effect with inspiration in some cases. Then a shadowy figure flits through the walls and attacks Lughausen. A shadow demon. However, one against six is a bit lopsided, and it is taken down before it can do much damage. With the gas clear, they enter the treasury. There is an outer and inner room. The outer room contains cabinets of fine china and cutlery, guard uniforms (The insignia on each is a purple and orange diagonal band), and household records.
There are three bookcases, and it looks like these are all personal files of people who worked here. There are lists of names and occupations, background checks, very thorough. They date from 949 until 1082. They learn that this tower employed some 10 guards, including two sergeants and one captain. There were also 9 domestic staff, which included a butler, master of the house, and master of the kitchen. Most of the employees were local, and all were single with no family ties. They typically came from Wohlen and Zell, all from Ap Wys. There are a few that came from Mels and Buchs. The notes paid close attention to their unattachedness and how likely they were to try and communicate back to others outside of the tower. There is a clear level of paranoia here about secrecy. They all take some time to pour over the records and Lydya discovers that there is reference to Mistress Penne up to 1012, then they refer to Mistress Penne the younger. Perhaps a daughter.
It has been a long day and they are ready to take a long rest, this time in the barracks where there are many beds.
5/13/1150 – They wake up and are now 5th level. They wonder where the stairs leading up the tower are and conduct a search, using the map where there are unrevealed areas as a guide. But it is for naught. Torchon speculates about needing to go down before going up. So they get in marching order and head down. The stairs end at a passage turning to the right which leads to a guard room. There are three doors. One metal with a metal hook next to it, a reinforced wooden one, and a stone door. They choose the stone door first, checking it for traps and listening, but finding nothing. A corridor leads to another door, which they repeat the process at. Opening it reveals a very large room with a dirt floor. In the center is an Elemental Square, very large. Lughausen rushes up to study it, entering the room. He knows a lot about this: Elementalism used to be a major school of wizardry pre-cataclysm. However, stories abound about elementals breaking free of their elementalist control and causing major havoc. The school was probably destroyed in the Great Cataclysm like the others. Wizards today do not practice elementalism and the art is lost in general. Only a few conjuration spells remain today from the vast repertoire that once was. He figures the square is intact if one knew the proper spells, it could be used.
To the west are double stone doors. Baptiste opens them revealing a wide 10-foot corridor that goes a bit then ends in another set of double doors. They open those to reveal a smaller room, still with the churned dirt floor. The only thing in this room is a stone throne against the back wall. They think about tracks and notice that the dirt is loose which would show any tracks. They see clear tracks that they themselves created, but no others. Sven goes in the room. Immediately a creature burrows out of the earth with three tentacles and teeth. They think it might be a xorn. It chitters to them in a language no one understands. When they fail to respond, its demeanor changes to hostile, so they attack.
Baptiste and Sven rush up while the ranged adventurers attack from afar. It takes wounds, but they are not as bad as they should be. It has a very tough hide. Suddenly, from the large room an earth elemental rises from the dirt and glides up to attack Lughausen. He takes a lot of damage but survives to disengage and escape. They manage to take the xorn down with concentrated fire and can then turn their attention to the elemental. It has however, knocked Jak to unconsciousness until Lughausen heals him. They formed a defensive line but the elemental just sunk into the earth and glided under them to a new position so it could hit the casters in the back. After a long battle, it is defeated.
Taking another short rest, they talk about how incongruous this elemental area is for Salinga. From what they know, she is a mentalist. They speculate about Smythe Bloodstone.
Moving on, they return to the guard room and take the wooden door. It opens into a long hallway. They eventually reach a door that opens into a small office. There is a desk here but it is empty except for a torn journal page stuck behind a drawer. It talks about making golems and improving a shoulder joint. Dr. Qume’s name is mentioned as is Ulrich’s. The author blames Ulrich for something.
In the next room down the hall they discover a library. Unfortunately, all the bookshelves have been cleared except for one. Lughausen again rushes in. On this they find ten spell scrolls. The casters take turns trying to read and identify them. Lughausen finds one cleric scroll, Jak two bard scrolls, and Torchon one ranger scroll. The rest are unidentified. Across the hall is the last door in this area. It opens into a sitting room with a fancy rug and four comfortable chairs. There is a painting on the wall of a city, from a bit of a distance. It is night. Rising from the city center is a massive pillar of bright orange light reaching up to the sky. No one is able to identify it. There is another door from this room that they take. It opens up into a laboratory. Before they can see much of it, they see that a body is on a table that sits up when the door is opened. It is identified as a flesh golem.
The ranged adventurers stay in a line in the doorway while Sven and Baptiste enter to fight it. A moment later, another door bursts open in the room and frosty mist enters. Another flesh golem, kept in the freezer apparently, has joined the battle. Lughausen casts spirit guardians, his first third level spell and uses it to damage the golems while the rest focus fire to take them down one by one.
Keeping his spell up because it will last for 10 minutes, Lughausen urges the party forward instead of taking a short rest. Beyond the room is a corridor that turns and ends in a door. Opening it reveals a torture chamber containing just about every imaginable device. On three of the devices are mummies that move when the door is opened. Lughausen’s spell has little effect on them and Baptiste is too tired to do any of his special maneuvers. As a consequence, it is hard to prevent a mummy from taking Brimstone Jak down in a single blow. Worst, he is cursed by its rotting fist. Also, Torchon is nearly killed by one mummy and must flee down the hall and he too is cursed.
Lughausen turns one mummy with the power of Epolde so the party can focus on one at a time. It is the difference in the battle as the last mummy is taken down quickly by careful planning allowed by its frightened state. After the battle, they take a short rest before deciding to take one of the two doors that remain unopened in the room. The door leads to a hallway with several metal doors with barred windows and a slot. Behind each is a small ten-foot cell. All but one of the cells has a body inside as well as piles of rubbish. However, shortly after they investigate specters arise from the bodies. Incorporeal, they float through the locked doors and walls to attack the party. There are ten total, and the party is extremely nervous. One seriously wounds Torchon, even after he retreats to the torture chamber, and he is nearly killed by it. Worse, due to his curse he could no longer be healed by any means. Lughausen calls forth the power of Epolde and turns most of the specters, turning the tide of the battle so they can focus their attacks on one at a time. Even still, Baptiste has his life drained by one of the specters, but he lives. They destroy half the specters and then retreat to the torture chamber to set up an ambush when the turn effect expires. Sure enough, the spectres come back to attack and the focused power of the party is enough to defeat them.
After that, they elect to retreat to the abandoned library and take a long rest.
5/14/1150 – In the morning, Lughausen calls on the power of Epolde to remove the curses on Torchon and Jak. The life draining effect on Baptiste fades normally in the morning and the party is fully healthy and ready to continue. There is one last door to open. Behind it they find a hallway leading to a room with a strange triangle inscribed on the floor, much like the room with the seven-pointed star. Baptiste finally enters with the rest and sees that braziers at the three points are still lit. Worse, there is a blood splatter covering one of the lines of the triangle. Just as Lughausen identifies it as a spiritual triangle, three spirits materialize: two ghosts and a wraith. The sight of the ghosts frightens most of the party, and they are fighting against it to conduct the battle. Worse, one of the ghosts possesses Sven. However, Lughausen quickly calls upon the power of Epolde and turns them. This breaks the possession before it can become a problem. The turning effect allows the party to fight the spirits one at a time, easily defeating them. They learn only a bit more about the triangle. It is for a school of magic, spiritualism, that doesn’t exist anymore.
After a short rest, they determine that the basement is fully explored and return to the first level to look again for stairs of some kind that lead to the upper tower. They search and search, and find no means to reach the tower. Their map clearly shows places that are unexplored, but search after search turns up no clues. They even think of searching the privies. They go outside and see that the tower has no windows and no roof, since it is topped by a peaked roof. Sven gets out his rope and makes the attempt to climb. Expertly, he reaches the top, finding nothing of interest along the way. The roof is tiled with metal pieces and he takes some time trying to figure out how to pry them up.
Meanwhile, Baptiste has had the idea of examining the stairs leading down to the basement, and the others follow suit. Then it is Jak who notices that at the bottom of the stairs, the lines of the stones line up unusually. Some searching finally reveals a concealed lever. They go outside to call back Sven, who has been prying at the metal plates with various tools, including a now-ruined shortsword. He reluctantly, stubbornly, climbs back down using the rope after tying it off at the top.
They arrange themselves and Baptiste alone goes on the stairs and pulls the lever. The entire stairway pivots, blocking the upper entrance where the rest of the party is. Baptiste rises and finds that the stairs now connect to the bottom of a spiral staircase. He steps off, seeing another lever, which he pulls, which causes the stairs to pivot back down. He sees light coming from above and waits as quiet as he can. The rest of the party sees the stairs come down empty and all climb on to join Baptiste. They are relieved to find him simply waiting.
They climb the stairs and find a round room on the first tower level. It is empty except for two guardian golems blocking another set of stairs going up on the opposite side of the room. The floor is covered with a mural depicting a falling emptiness, which is very disconcerting. The walls and floor of the room are covered in magical scars. It appears that this was a spelltesting room of a sort. The golems do not budge or react even as the party approaches. Lughausen casts a command spell on one, telling it to move, and it obliges, by starting to move and attack. The battle is engaged. One golem hastes itself, while the other casts stoneskin upon itself. They also regenerate each round, but the combined efforts of the party are enough to destroy them one by one. Another short rest later, undisturbed by anything from above or below, and they ascend.
The next room is again one big giant room. Upon the floor is inscribed a pentagram in blood. Braziers again are at each point, lit. Across the room standing in front of the another set of stairs going up is the strange figure that met them at the front door. He frowns and crosses his arms, “So, we are persistent. Last chance to vacate the premises. Such a mess to clean up.” They try to talk to him and he rolls his eyes and sighs, seeing that they are not going to leave and says, “I suppose I will have to deal with you myself.” He summons two mezzoloths and another battle begins.
The mezzoloths act first and they cast spells to engulf the party first in magical darkness and then in a poisonous cloudkill spell. Each of the party members takes significant poison damage and must leave the area or take more. This splits them up and puts them at risk for more attacks. The strange figure moves and mutters spellcasting. Brimstone Jak blasts him and discovers that he is an illusion, not really there. The strange figure taunts them and their small intellect. Meanwhile, the mezzoloths have covered the second half of the room with another cloudkill, splitting the party in two as they flee to opposite sides of the tower room. Lughausen goes down and Baptiste drags him to safety. The mezzloths hide in the poison clouds unseen and attack from it. Torchon is able to heal Lughausen, but they must wait their opportunity to strike at the mezzoloth who darts in and out. The other one faces Sven, Lydya, and Jak. Lydya is knocked unconscious as this one doesn’t hide so much by tries to fight face to face. Sven rages and Jak’s magic hurts it badly. It calls the other one up to join it since the other party members can’t run out without passing through the clouds of poison. However, Torchon takes the risk and is severely poisoned. He comes out on the other side to help. Lughausen attempts to bluff the fiends by suggesting that they will run upstairs now that it is unguarded. He does so, passing by the illusory form of the strange figure. He finds an empty workshop upstairs, and runs back down.
Jak affects one with a tasha’s hideous laughter putting it out of the battle and prone on the ground. Sven finishes it off. When it dies, one of the cloudkill clouds dissipates and the rest of the party joins in. Now everyone can focus on the last mezzoloth and it too is dispatched. Afterward, the strange figure says, “How inconvenient. The Master will NOT be pleased. I shall inform him of your identities when next we meet.” Then he vanishes.
They take a short rest and debate about trying to rest further before going up again. Finally, after a long discussion, they advance up the stairs afraid of meeting more foes. Instead they find an empty workshop and a jackpot of knowledge. Seven bookshelves line the walls, crafting stations line the other half of the outside wall and cabinets are full of components. A survey shows that three of the bookcases contain books about the study of magic. There are tomes on all 10 schools of magic here. Diaries of wizards, biographies, histories of magic. Of the schools themselves. Laws of magic and theory and so on. There is one ragged spellbook that has been burned, torn. It looked like an everyday wizard's spellbook that was nearly destroyed. They see the titles of lots of spells lost to time.
The next contains nothing but books on crafting. The next about religion, and the last two are full of histories. Lughausen finds a torn and nearly destroyed journal. It contains entries from as far back as 949 and as recent as 30 years ago. It is very interesting, containing a depiction of a massive battle between New Draconia, Yrvil, and the Coalition of Peace. In the middle of it, the author appears to go insane. It is very interesting to the party.
They venture up and find the mistress’s bedroom. Nothing of great import is here except that like the workshop below, everything is immaculate and ready to be used with not even dust upon it. The sharp-eyed amongst the party notice that a rope leading up to the chandelier is actually two ropes, one of which apparently disappears into nothingness in the ceiling. They identify it as a rope trick spell, and Sven ventures up. He finds an extradimensional space with six chests in it. They all eagerly go up and open them one by one. The first contains thousands of coins and gems. The next contain notes and 5 interesting objects. The notes contain information about people they saw in the paintings on the first floor, with associated objects. They decide to stay up here and take a long rest. They read the notes and discuss their next course of action.
5/15/1150 – They wake up refreshed and Lughausen spends his spell load casting identify. This is what they find:
Andrick Blukhorel - He was one of the original companions of Ulrich's when he began the adventures. Beyond being cursed to travel with Ulrich, his family was cursed by something else entirely. Centuries before, a Blukhorel ran afoul of someone calling itself the Black God. He struck the Blukhorel down and cursed his whole family to die at a certain age, each generation a year earlier than the previous. This would have wiped them out except some of them quested to lift the curse and managed to get Epolde's priests to halt and push back the age to 40.
I seem to recall there was talk of trying to lift it completely when Andrick died of course while with Ulrich. Oddly, his brother Roderick joined up with Ulrich (and he was a pus-head paladin) and they quested on. Roderick died too, by the way, outside the High Temple of Arawn.
When I dug up Andrick's body, he didn't have much to say beyond this. I did find this interesting amulet around the corpse's neck. The eye suggests it might have come from Brynmawr, another interesting connection to necromancy. Oh, and the Black God turns out to have been Taeddon. So it is all tied together. A conspiracy perhaps? The amulet is interesting, but hardly necromantic.
They had lots of ties to Arawn and the undead, these Blukhorels. Very, very interesting.
In this chest was an Amulet of Proof against Location and Detection.
Dergan Peaksmasher - He was a companion of Ulrich that came and went freely. I don't think any others did this. Maybe he was trying to escape his doom. Something kept him coming back. Money and blood, from what I can tell. It didn't do him any good though. Coming back just let Ulrich get him killed.
He was your typical soldier, but obsessed with Croyans. I think they met him while in the dwarven kingdom. He wasn't there at the beginning, but was either hired or just joined on later. I'm not clear on that. It probably explains why he never had an item that had the maker's mark on it. Most of his gear was standard issue, but I understand that he had a sword that was more effective against creatures that drained energy than other creatures. I haven't been able to track it down since it looks like any other sword.
Jun Anhanger - He is most interesting in that he was the original finder of the Amulet of Shadows. A priest of Nychs and albino, it seems most natural that the Amulet would be in his hands. However, my research indicates that he found it in a creek by accident on the way to meeting Ulrich. The enormous odds against this suggest to me that another agency orchestrated its finding.
Another original companion of Ulrich at the beginning, I have to wonder how this was done. Again, I have some suspicious who was behind it all. I suspect also that Jun had an agenda in conflict with being with Ulrich, but it was never revealed because of his early demise under that giant rock.
The Amulet would be a wonderful acquisition. I understand that the same maker's mark is on its back.
Unfortunately, the pus-head paladins in Arhus have taken it away and locked it up. No success yet in getting it.
Magnus the Even-Handed - This companion of Ulrich arrived much later after several of his earlier quests were complete. There are two things of interest in his story. First, he came from the past and was frozen in some sort of magic stasis for 70 years in a box. That is a magic I want.
Second, he managed to leave Ulrich with his life for several months. Of course, he returned and died a "glorious" death in Ulrich's defense. He was too quick to declare injustice and charge into battle. He was of this old organization called the Order of Virtues, making him some sort of knight of Vodethyn or some-such. I think they hunted down criminals.
I haven't located the body yet to see what was buried with him, or to interrogate him. I did, however, track down the box! Most interestingly, the same mark is on the box. However, the magic of the box is discharged and only a slight residue remains. It is not enough to decipher what the magic was that held him…at least not yet.
In this chest is a wooden box that was once magical, but has nothing now. It has been discharged.
Johann Bauer - He was one of the original companions of Ulrich's when he began in Arhus. He had a secret. One he kept for quite some time. He was a priest of Loghi pretending to be a priest of Myrcon. I really admire his guts for doing this. Even more, I admire him for actually leaving Ulrich before Ulrich got him killed (much like I did).
Johann, however, decided to throw in his lot with the Daemoi Mefis and caused lots of trouble. He wasn't wearing this cloak when he died in that final confrontation. But my research suggests he got this at the same time Ulrich got his eyepiece, so there is a connection. Believe me, it was very hard to track down where Johann holed up when he wasn't terrorizing Ulrich and his companions. But I did it and recovered this among many other very interesting things.
This chest contains a simple brown cloak that is a cloak of protection +1, though it seems to be something larger and is singed at the bottom.
Rebecca Scifes - She joined Ulrich not in Arhus like his original companions, but shortly after they left the city. She had an unremarkable run with him, dying an inconsequential death not long after traveling with him. A caster of some sort.
I only took note of her because of her appearance. Apparently, she had been charmed by a mysterious old man who very accurately described each of Ulrich's companions and sent her to them. He also gave her these earrings which bear the same sigil as each of the items they all had received or found. I think I know who that old man was. But why, I'm not sure. He had also managed to seal the earrings to her so they could not ever be removed.
I had to cut the ears off the body to remove these. Acid did the trick. For good or bad, that property is gone now. The girl I talked into trying them on was able to remove them normally.
This chest contains Earrings of Comprehension, that permit comprehend languages once a long rest and detect thoughts once per week.
Otto Glockenspiel - Otto was the first to join Ulrich in Arhus when things all began. And while he was a fairly ineffectual fighter, he had a huge impact on Ulrich and how he and his companions comported themselves. It was Otto who set the rules for how they interacted with each other with loot sharing and decision making. He was Krewaldian, and they used his contracts for years beyond his death. I remember them well, curse them.
He was given this blue sword at the very beginning by a mysterious old man. It is unique. I don't think there is any other sword in the multiverse that has this blue hue. Otto was pretty stupid for throwing it in the ocean like he did. I had a hell of a time finding it down at the bottom of the sea.
This chest contains a blue longsword +1, that when named can be summoned to one’s hand with a command word.
Each of the items has a maker’s sigil on them that Lughausen identifies as the mark of Stefan, the master wizard who founded the school of Enchantment.
Rest of the day they research, Lydya explores and falls into a pit. They have to search for her to rescue her later in the day when they see that she is gone. Lughausen searches for other libraries, but doesn’t find mention of anything beyond the usual suspects of the schools of magic and high temples.
5/16/1150 – They leave this morning to return to Wohlen. They have gathered a number of important books of history from the library to take back with them for Wodemar. But not the entire library. They still have three horses that will help carry the load. It ends up being roughly 300 pounds.
As they leave and start towards the causeway, some githyanki appear from the causeway, using magic jumping to get them over the water. They prepare to fight. Torchon and Lydya use their arrows, and Jak his eldritch blast to severely wound the apparent leader. The other githyanki use a combination of their ongoing jump spell to leap and then misty step as a bonus action to cover the distance quickly and start attacking Torchon, Lydya, and then Jak. Lughausen puts up his spirit guardians spell which quickly becomes a nuisance. The leader moves up and uses telekinesis to push Lughausen 30 feet up into the air. However, it isn’t hard for Sven to run forward and finish the leader off. Lughausen’s fall is significate but not enough to kill him. With the leader dealt with, the rest of the party is able to finish off the rest of the githyanki without trouble. Searching the bodies they recover a silver greatsword and a note and map identical to the one that they found on the first githyanki with the Skullsmasher gang. The note says “Make haste! Do not lose this map. –K” They speculate who K might be and wonder how the githyanki are finding them twice. Of course, they realize later it’s just the maps that the githyanki are following.
They now leave for real and enter the swamp. They worry about finding their way to the causeway again with the powerful illusion magic in the area. Lughausen leaves 5 familiar objects (a sock, crossbow bolts with names written on them like Grimstone Jack, and so on). He will use these with locate object to find their way again if they return. In the swamp they travel for most of the day, then a wyvern flies overhead to attack. However, the sharp eyes and bows of Torchon, Lydya and Jak’s eldritch blast take it down before it can even engage in melee. They move on until they must make camp.
5/17/1150 – They continue on and while still in the swamp, a water elemental bursts out to attack them as they walk along a waterway that will eventually become the river that leads west into the Drakewind Forest. It engulfs Lughausen and Jak, but Lughausen escapes a moment later. Baptiste and Sven engage it in melee while the rest get to range with their attacks. The elemental manages to keep Jak engulfed and then add Baptsite, but it is slain before they can drown.
They reach the woods and are finally out of the swamp and continue on. They see smoke in the distance and Torchon sneaks up to investigate. He finds a camp where six ogres roast meat. They decide to take them out. They get pretty close with stealth until Sven spoils it and the ogres defend their camp. They are handily dispatched and some coin is recovered.
Moving on, they are almost to the end of the day and enter another somewhat large clearing. Halfway across they feel a rumbling in the earth. Lughausen and Jak believe it is underground creatures, and the party scatters. It is indeed a pair of bulettes hunting. The first burrows up and leaps on Lydya from a great distance away, hurting her significantly. The other gets Sven and Lughausen together, knocking them prone. Once again, the ranged people are the key to killing the bullettes quickly because they are doing devastating damage to the party when they attack. They move on and make camp.
5/18/1150 – Today it starts to sleet, and cold weather appears to be moving in. They travel on getting closer to Wohlen. However, they spot a cave that they either missed or wasn’t there on their trip on. They go to investigate. Just as they get to the mouth of the cave, a pair of hill giants emerge. They party battles them for a few moments, killing them easily. Inside the cave it is just barely big enough for the giants. They recover a number of coins scattered about.
Towards the end of the day they find a game trail and follow it until they are just about an hour away from both Wohlen and sunset. They round the corner and encounter a party of minotaurs quietly making their way along the trail. The minotaurs charge to attack. This battle is not as easy as the previous ones. The minotaur’s charging and reckless attacks are enough to knock Torchon and Lydya to unconscious and nearly do so to Jak and Lughausen. Lughausen’s spirit guardians again make the difference in killing the minotaurs at last. Their fallen companions are healed magically again. The party has begun to notice that Lughausen’s spirit guardians are decidedly fiendish in appearance.
They recover an ornate magical greataxe from the leader of the minotaurs and some coin. They worry about how a party of minotaur warriors found themselves here and are about to attack Wohlen. They decide to backtrack the minotaur’s tracks instead of getting to the city. They do so despite the sleet, and find a campsite where the minotaurs had been earlier, perhaps where they had been waiting until nightfall to begin their raid. From there, they are unable to find where they came in. The area is too trampled. They decide to use the campsite for themselves.