July 5th 216 Upon waking this morning, Kiri-Joleth reports that he has to depart due to a death in a prominent noble family that had made arrangements for rather complicated "life-assurance" policies. As the ranking representative of Weejas he has to be present for the state funeral and for the arrangements of the continuing existence of the noble. Before leaving, the lich helps prepare the party by casting protective and enhancing spells. Collin (remaining priest) is the party's contact for further issues. Collin summons a pair of Archons, and the party ride bag to the tower. At the tower Wintermoon drops a few magma creatures into the top of the tower to distract defenders and stir up trouble. The creatures going through rile up dozens of shadows. Alex goes up flying in troll-form and splatters several shadows before they become sly enough to not expose themselves needlessly. Alex changes shape to a giant insectoid and punctures a hole in the outer wall at the base of the tower and the group enters the first floor layer of the building. The group enter a room about 4 feet above the floor. Within the room are two mysterious reservoirs, with a body being leached of oils in one of them. Along the walls are shelves with jars of human organs, including some bizarre specimens such as "fat woman's skin", "hermaphrodite organs", and "pinkerton's brain". Swiftwind hears sounds behind the only door out of the chamber. The party open the door and find they have surprised half a dozen guerillons. Many of the guerillons were facing the door so they react quickly. There are five of the creatures involved in moving some debris around the room, a sixth one wearing a large iron "fang" mask seems to be directing them. Swiftwind, who opened the door, is badly injured by the onslaught of the guerillons. Also during the attack, the body being leeched in the vat behind him jumps up and tries to grab him with its tongue. It seems to be an animated monster with entrails that entangle like tentacles. Swiftwind narrowly avoids being pulled back into the acid vat. At this point, Swiftwind staggers back behind the cover of his friends, and Moge steps forward. In fact, Moge enters the room with the guerillons, gets surrounded and ripped into bloody shreds. At the same time the guerillon leader is charmed by Jaenelle. She directs him to tell the creatures to stop attacking and tries to have a further conversation. The party find their attacks mostly useless against the undead entrail beast. After the guerillons are successfully called off, the undead creature is eventually destroyed under the full focus of party's wrath. The party then play a "scavenger hunt" for Moge's remains. Most pieces are found, even the head is fished out of the acid vat by Murgen, who got dunked by the entrail monster. Luckily Alex was hasted and was able to fish Murgen out before any permanent damage occurred. As for Moge's head, well he wasn't exactly good-looking to begin with... Back to Jaenelle and her new furry friend... As the guerillon munches on Moge's arm, he invites Jaenelle to join the feast, which she does, with apparent relish. The guerillon does not speak but roars and gestures; he seems to react when Jaenelle speaks. Jaenelle eventually gives up trying to communicate and tells the creatures to leave. They dutifully file out through the broken outer wall. The party briefly lick their wounds and explore onward. The guerillons had uncovered a dresser of sorts with treasure, which is gleefully looted. As Swiftwind explores, a deadly trap nearly cuts him to pieces, but he miraculously escapes falling into it. The next room is huge. By Alex's estimate it must take half the tower's interior cross-section. It is dark and full of stones, pieces of statues, some of them unfinished. The party get a bad vibe and shut the door without exploring the room. There are several more abandoned rooms, some containing supplies like mummy wrappings and smelling of embalming fluids. The party finds a ritual dagger (an eevil ritual dagger.) Behind door number three they find several magical auras, an unidentified aura as well as clairvoyance and dimension door. The group quickly shuts the door and decide to leave. Unfortunately as they walk away, the door behind them opens and a fireball bursts in the midst of the party. Suddenly the abandoned hallways are teeming with unlife. Out of the magical room bursts a crowd of hasted vampires, some spellcasting and throwing fireballs at the party. Shadows thicken as they slip through cracks in the walls of the hallways. Some of the party are overcome with fear at the diabolical baying of shadow mastiffs. But, as they flee, the exit is blocked by specters Jaenelle, Swiftwind, and Wintermoon flee in panic. Korvath valiantly holds the rear and almost becomes a shadow. Alex (still in insectoid shape) ploughs through the walls making a new way out of the tower, then defends the party as they escape into the sunlight. Some of the shadows and mastiffs pursue the party, but Alex is back in troll shape and splatters them with a few blows. After a few minutes everyone calms down, and the party teleports back to relative safety. SESSION END afternoon of July 5th 216 NEXT TIME : putting the pieces together EXPERIENCE TOTALS (Session 27) ----------------- Korvath Moge Alex Wintermoon Swiftwind Jaenelle Murgen 50181 -dead- 51634 49448 49448 49448 20744