The Heart of Nightfang Spire - Chapter 5 and 6
Chapter 5 - Some people never learn
Only with some good work, quick thinking, and luck did we not get turned into paste.
OOC Notes:
Experience this session is 3362 each. Loot proceeds are 2386 gp each, (this includes the deduction for the reduce scrolls and potions). The +2 bracers of armor are still to be dealt with.
This Week’s Adventure:
Scorch and Dravot arrived, also apparently invited for tea and we talked a bit while we waited to be shown in. Dravot of course had to fuss over my physical health. We discussed briefly the return to the Spire. I let them know that I was not ready to return, if I was to return, and requested them to wait another day. They both seemed to have tasks of their own to deal with and agreed to wait until the next day before debating a return.
Scorch was curiously holding and clucking over a new pendant around his neck with a small, dull, rather common stone. I surmised it had something to do with membership in the guild – seems he bought his way in and was quite pleased. Dravot also handed over two scrolls to Scorch – arcane versions of two enhancement spells. Scorch was of course suspicious as to why. Dravot said that by Scorch having them, the group was the better for it. Scorch was not quite satisfied at that answer but it made perfect sense to Dravot, and to me.
The maid came and escorted us into the garden. There we found Ariadne, near a table made of natural unworked stone. There were piles of similar unworked rock that served as chairs, and the whole scene had a natural feel I found comforting. The table was set with fine china from Verbobonk with tea and assorted light refreshments.
[OOC: At this point I had to wonder why you would call it “china” in a world where there was never a “china”. Perhaps they called it “Verbobonk” but found the name too clumsy.]
Ariadne was looking well, dressed in a white gown. She dismissed the maid, and locked the door to the garden behind her. Ariadne said “Father insists that I maintain appearances in front of the servants.” With that, she shifted her shape, producing small horns, and a set of wings from her back. Her skin had the golden shimmer of scales. After changing she seemed relieved, commenting that maintaining human form is some effort for her.
With that we sat and talked. Scorch, oddly enough, waited until both Ariadne and I were seated before sitting. A strange display of manners from him. This however was not a formal occasion and we served ourselves with little fuss. I took my saucer from my cup and placed some milk in it for Rasha, who welcomed the treat.
Ariadne of course asked if I was well. She commented how difficult it can be after dying and it was clear from her statements that she had died and been raised herself. She was particularly concerned with the fear and said that it was difficult for her after coming back. For myself I did not so much consider it fear as perhaps despair, but she was close enough to strike a chord.
She wanted to give me something, but insisted I not tell her father. He would be cross with her, if he learned. She handed me a small silken pouch. Inside was a silver chain with a bright blue gem. She said “This periapt will grant you bravery in combat and protect you from fear.” She said it was given to her after her return for the same purpose and it was of great help, but that she no longer needs it as much as she did.
I thanked her for the gift, and for the thought behind it. I was concerned that she would put herself in a bad position with her father, but she smiled the smile only a daughter can, and said she could handle her father. He would just be a bit cross if he learned too soon. I told her I would be discreet and accepted the gift.
The rest of the tea passed quietly with idle conversation. Dravot and I had the good sense not to head into grizzly topics but Scorch had to get the eye once or twice to be reminded of what an appropriate topic was. Hardly surprising though. Rasha was generally well behaved, except wanting to slip off and chase the birds in the garden. I let him go since I’d kept him cooped up too long. I told him he could chase them but not actually hurt any of them, and let him go play.
After the tea, we finalized our arrangements between ourselves and went our separate ways. I returned to the moon tower, and got lost in my thoughts again. I was not looking forward to Aran’gel’s arrival – I hardly had enough time to adjust to this myself, and I had no idea how he would react. After a while, I fell back to sleep, with Rasha warm and purring on my lap. His concerns seemed to be easing which was good. Certainly my death, however temporary, couldn’t have been good on him either.
As I woke up, I was aware someone was already in the room. Whoever it was couldn’t have come in without Rasha noticing, and if they were dangerous, I’d already have known. I turned to see Aran’gel, sitting in a chair. Not moving, just watching me.
At this point, I wondered why I bothered trying to lock my door.
I had no idea what to say to him. All at once I was ashamed of myself for getting killed, ashamed of my empty words to him in his time of need (when I could not possibly have understood as I do now), ashamed as a student, and still feeling very lonely and afraid. I sat there, looking at him. And he stared back at me, nothing showing on his face. I had no idea if he was relieved or angry with me.
After some time in silence, I had enough, and spoke, trying to cover my fears. “Warden, do you make it a habit to slip into the rooms of sleeping ladies and watch them as they rest?”
He was about to answer that then stopped for a moment and thought. Then he said “Actually, yes a bit in my youth. But not as much any more.” Then he stopped again with that look of having said something he shouldn’t have.
I saw his sheepish look and suddenly started laughing. And he smiled as if it were the most wonderful thing he had ever heard.
After I stopped giggling he said “I was worried about you.” And saddened all I could answer with was “It seems you were right to be.” He asked if I was well, and when I said “I suppose I’m better than I was, and yet less than I was,” he just nodded.
“And!” I added with sudden memory “I had just figured out that cursed spell of yours, after weeks of working on it, thank you very much. But now the words won’t come and the magic won’t flow…”
And I slowly, by inches, lost myself. It started with a single tear and then a sob and then I was crying like a twenty year old. Before the first tear hit my blouse, he stood and had his arms around me. He more than most, didn’t just know what I was going through, but he understood. He may not have been dead, but he was near enough to it, and had the same loss for it.
And he sat me back down, and I cried.
And cried. And cried. He didn’t say a word, he just held me and let me sob into his shoulder. I had been trying to avoid this but I suppose I needed it. And while I would rather not have him see me like this, better him than most.
And after some time crying, I finally started to slow down. And still he just held me and let me feel safe.
Finally I sat back up, and got a handkerchief (not that I hadn’t cried plenty over his poor shirt). He looked at me and said “Do you want to tell me what happened?”
I thought about it and said “No. I’ve been repeating it to myself too much as it is. I can tell you this though – seems that I’m not a very good Champion after all.”
He gave me an unamused look. “I too made my mistakes, and paid for them dearly. And had I said that I was a poor champion, I know someone who would have taken me to task on it. And I’ll do no less here. Perhaps you made a mistake, as I did. Perhaps you were just unlucky. But you are here to tell the tale, and while you may be worse off for the experience, you are no less a Champion than you were before you sparked.”
“Pfft. I failed. There’s little more to it than that. I failed myself, my friends, my patron. I failed the Champions. I failed Celene. I failed my father. I failed you….”
And then I started crying all over again. And he held me again and let me cry.
After I sat up this time, I didn’t say a word. I had nothing else I could say, and I was worried I’d just start crying again.
He said “Yes, you’re a failure. Just like I am. I failed the Champions, I failed Highfolk, I failed my men.”
With a deep sigh, I gave him an exasperated look. We didn’t even need to follow the thread of that bit of logic. “Yes yes, I know. If you think I haven’t heard my own words to you over and over in my head, you’re quite mistaken. All the words I said to you after I rescued you are still quite clear to me, as is the irony of having them now apply to me.”
“Excellent! Then hopefully you won’t be wallowing in self pity as long as I was?”
I started smiling in spite of myself. “Oh no I should hope not. That would be wretched of me wouldn’t it?”
His reply came with a mock sneer “Very funny.” Which it was.
After a moment he asked “So what happens now?”
I shrugged. “There isn’t much choice really. As I told you those weeks ago – either I can hide from life and the world, or I can go on. If I choose to hide, then I may nearly as well have remained dead, as I would still be lost to those who knew me. But saying it and doing it are different matters.”
He nodded, all too aware of it. I decided to take us a different direction “So how are matters in Highfolk?”
He proceeded to tell me of the small matters there, and I was glad to be distracted with something other than my own troubles. I ordered some dinner while we talked and we chatted this way for some time.
I could tell he wanted to ask me more about the Spire, but did not. I think he was still worried for me, but not in a bad way. Actually it was sort of cute.
After dinner we shared a bottle of wine and continued to talk. He told me that his troops had discovered more saplings planted but now that they know what they are looking for, they have been very effective at finding and destroying them. I wonder what will happen to the gulthias horrors once Gulthias himself is destroyed… He also mentioned that a band of dwarves have moved north and, with permission, into the Glitterhame and are reconditioning it for active use. Apparently the Duregar have all left, as did the troglodytes. According to the dwarves, the orcs never returned.
Once the bottle was done and the fire dying, he said that he had to return this evening. Once he said it, it was apparent that he had already stayed with me longer than he should have. I didn’t realize until writing this that it never occurred to me to ask how he had gotten here so quickly, or how he was returning. We said our goodbyes and he went off into the night. I stood at the window watching the stars for a time after that. Only then did I realize I had never asked how he found out what had happened, or how he had gotten here so quickly. I went to bed and whether through the blessings of the Lady, or the blessings of the wine, I slept like a rock.
The good cry and the night’s rest had me feeling slightly better in the morning. The amulet from Ariadne also helped take much of the edge off my uneasiness, though I was careful to conceal it from Lord Gelban. The next morning Scorch and Dravot returned. I was dressed, prepared to return, if not exactly anxious.
Lord Gelban had additional resources for us to help with the Spire: Four scrolls of lesser restoration, a wand of cure light wounds (21 charges), something in a small pouch for Valanthe, and 20 enchanted arrows to split between myself and Rackhir. [+2 arrows] Scorch had also acquired several reduce potions and scrolls, as per my request. I had convinced them that we needed a change of strategy on the Spire, and that these would be essential for a different entry.
The problem was that we had entered the spire the same way for three days straight. Gulthias may think we had left, but I wasn’t counting on that. Surely he would have fortified that entryway. Therefore I wanted to enter through some other means. Scorch could dimension door into the tower but the weight was restricted. Therefore the shrinking action was needed to move the entire party at once. Of course, we knew the tower would prevent dimension door into “The Core” but didn’t know where exactly that covered. Therefore we would take a chance and hope. Rackhir was grousing about being so small but he was easily the heaviest among us and therefore the first person that needed to be reduced. The reduction would only last a few minutes anyway so I failed to see the worry.
We teleported back to the ruined city without incident, and returned to the canyon. Rather than assault the tower in the morning, we waited til just after noon. Again, we had been too predictable, and the vampire spawn were hardly limited by the time of day in this dark place. With a prayer for luck, we shrank Valanthe, Rackhir and Dravot, and Scorch attempted to dimension door us back into the room where I met my death. Nothing prevented it and we arrived safely.
Perhaps “safely” is too strong a term though. We did land amidst four wailing spectres. That would not be considered “safe” by most standards. However we were expecting trouble and moved quickly. I fired at one but the arrow passed through it. Scorch fired his missiles, while Dravot destroyed two of them outright. Rackhir’s arrow found purchase in the same one Scorch and I fired at, and Jozan stepped up and destroyed it.
[End surprise round]
I fired at the single remaining spectre, with only one arrow finding him. He decided however that fighting was not wise, and fled through the wall. The party quickly focused on a nearby door to pursue him, and after Valanthe quickly scanned the door, Rackhir charged in. Unfortunately beyond the door was a pit trap. Rackhir tumbled down the pit, past several sharp razors, and emerged outside the Spire. Fortunately these were the chutes we had spotted and tied ropes across, and Rackhir managed to catch his still shrunken self on the rope before plummeting hundreds of feet. Scorch changed into a large bird and flew down the chute to retrieve him.
I entered the room to watch for the returning spectre. However that was little worry. The spectre must have expected all of this, and emerged through the wall looking for Rackhir. Fortunately Scorch was able to grab Rackhir and bring him back up before the spectre could find them. But coming past the razors again injured Rackhir even further. The spectre pursued them up the chute into the waiting arms of the rest of the party, and we made short work of him.
We waited patiently while Valanthe disabled the trap, propping it open so we could perhaps re-enter the tower later this way (assuming nobody discovered our work). Then she carefully checked the doors in this hallway, expertly finding an electrical trap on one of them.
One door was most disturbing, covered in grotesque carvings and inscribed in draconic “Oggunn Sathaar is interred here – only fools pass this threshold”. We held that one for last and checked the other rooms, finding only empty rooms covered in debris. One had an altar inscribed with a gulthias shape on it like the floor tile but we didn’t investigate further. One room turned up a rather interesting dagger – a white iron blade in a crystal hilt, inscribed with the words “Pale Piercer”. Based on experience, we surmised that it was a weapon that would be effected against partially ethereal creatures like the spectres.
This left only the crypt of Oggunun Sathaar. Deciding that we were indeed fools, we opened the door. Inside were walls covered in rotted tapestries, and a floor covered in cracked yellow tiles. In the back, a five foot diameter iron pipe stood from the floor, sealed in a metallic valve that was carved like the outer door. None of us were of a mind to open that pipe and explore what might be inside, and we left it be.
We proceeded to search the rest of the floor. We found a variety of empty rooms, one holding stairs to the next level. We found a large tapestry depicting a red dragon attacking a city on the plane of fire – it seemed valuable but it was too big to bother with now. Valanthe also dug out a gold ring (non magical) from one pile of funerary wrappings.
Since there was nothing more on this level, we moved downward. In the room the stairs emerged we found nothing, to our relief. We could detect evil to the left and right, several sources, as well as an undead presence ahead to the right. We elected to move to the left, and then we could press forward from there. This turned out to be the most important decision of the day, and one which could have easily cost us our lives if we had chosen otherwise.
The next room was certainly a stone carving room. Broken pieces of stone and half formed statues lay about the room. Stone dust covered the area, and a workbench with common tools was on the back wall. Not that any of this was what first drew your eye.
The first thing one tended to notice would have been the two large, hairy, four-armed apes that were inside. Certainly they would notice you, as they did us. And they attacked, filling the doorway immediately.
Outside this chamber it was cramped and difficult to fight. However the room they were in was large and much better suited to our needs. Rackhir tried to charge into the room past them, and one of them bashed him for the effort, but Rackhir was now inside and had distracted them. I followed Rackhir’s lead and got myself into the room also, encouraging the rest to come too. Dravot cast a recitation while Scorch dropped a lightning bolt on one. Jozan attacked the injured one and killed it. The remaining beast bashed at Jozan and hurt him severly, but fortunately the first one was dead, and this one would soon follow.
Of course, that is unless his five friends show up. From behind the party, five more beasts came charging through the door. This was not good. The party began withdrawing into the stone room while Rackhir and I killed the one that remained inside with us. Dravot entered first, then Scorch. Valanthe and Jozan placed themselves on either side of the doorway to attack the beasts as they entered. As the first one entered, it ran right into Jozan and Valanthe’s blades, and was injured badly.
Rackhir finished that one off, while Dravot healed some of Rackhir’s fairly severe wounds. As another moved in, I fired three arrows into it, and it fell dead to.
The next one entered and smashed into Jozan. It nearly tore his arm out of the socket. How Jozan remained standing was a wonder. Scorch fired magic missiles into it, nearly killing it. Jozan started a swing that took him through the first one and into the next one stepping in. This one also tore at Jozan and hurt him even further.
Our killing pocket was working well but Jozan was at the point where one more attack could kill him. If we didn’t win soon, we wouldn’t be winning at all. Rackhir fired, and Dravot moved up and healed Jozan. This probably saved Jozan’s life. The one before us was larger, wearing a strange mask – we guessed later it was the alpha male. I fired and put one arrow in the chest, one in the throat, and one in the eye, and it fell over dead.
This left one more beast who plowed into the room heedless of the bodies of his fallen fellows. But he had little chance and quickly met the fate of the others. We looked at each other in shock and terror, amazed we had all survived. Dravot saw to the groups wounds lest more of these things appear. These were the source of the evil we had detected and there seemed to be no more on this level, just the single undead element we were detecting.
While Dravot tended to people, we looked at the wreckage in this room, and the one the other beasts came from. We found various rotted furniture and tapestries there too. Hidden away was a dirty pile of gold (430gp) a set of eight blue quartz gems (10gp ea) an empty sack, and a potion bottle. Scorch said the potion was one of Aid. The bag turned out to be a rust colored bag of tricks.
Once we had recovered our wits, we moved towards the undead presence. Inside a room were two huge metal cauldrons that filled much of the floor. The near one was empty but the far one had some type of swirling liquid that was the source of the undead aura. We weren’t sure if this was something like the seepage we had encountered upstairs. Dravot tried to turn it but the only effect was for something to rise out of the vat. It was some kind of hideous misshapen human, the flesh falling away from its body and a long probing tongue searching the air.
I stepped into the room and fired a shot. The beast moved up to the doorway with frightening speed. Jozan stepped up and let his full fury loose on this creature, and Shatterspike cut deep into it. Rackhir finished the job and the thing fell over dead.
It seemed that the liquid was only tanning fluid and that this beast was the source of the undead Dravot detected. We looked with disgust at the preserved organs in jars lining the wall, but found little else here. Indeed this entire floor held nothing else of interest, and we then looked to the issue of moving even lower in this wretched place.
EDIT
Ok I screwed up reposting the story and lost a chapter or two. So I'll add in chapter 6 here
Chapter 6
OOC Notes:
Experience was 8130 each. Um, ok that’s staggering.
Wizardru can you give us an idea if we’ll have a long or short downtime after this run (assuming we live through it)? We’re going to have a LOT of issues to settle.
Notes for Next Time:
Apparently we’ve graduated from “minor annoyance”. At least we rate enough to send someone after us in the night. This raises all kinds of questions, such as “How did they know where we were?” and so on. But it also means that we might need to assume that he can find us at will. And that we might not have any more quiet nights, although I don’t think we ever really counted on those.
This Week’s Adventure:
We took a quick look at our resources remaining and decided to press on, though carefully. We came down the stairs and into a room layered with dust, but still having seen much traffic. Against one wall was a large statue of a dragon in red marble. There was one door leading out of the room, and beyond Valanthe could hear grunts and screeches of what we thought were more of the gorilla beasts. Soon though their tone changed and they had clearly heard us. We braced for the assault, and didn’t have to wait long.
One beast smashed the door in and Jozan moved up to keep it from moving further in. Our hope was to create the same defensible position we had in the floor above. Scorch was unsure how many, beasts were lined up beyond the one we could see (it was so massive there was no seeing around it) but let a lightning bolt fly as our opening volley. Valanthe and Jozan both had taken small chunks out of this beast, and the lightning left it scarcely alive.
[New round]
I used one arrow to finish off the creature, who dropped still in the doorway. That left me a clear line of fire to one behind it and I opened fire on him. From the other side of the doorway, the alpha male charged into our room. No dumb beast this – it clearly wanted to get among us and was trying to dodge past our front lines to do so. It suffered the attacks from Jozan and Valanthe and towered over Rackhir ready to strike.
Rackhir was unfazed and let three easy arrows loose into the beast in front of him. The alpha felt the last one tear at his throat and also fell over dead.
This opened up Scorch’s line of fire, and in this case it was literal. He dropped a fireball down the open path into the room. Two of the remaining beasts died and a third one was badly burned. Jozan stepped in and finished it, as much for mercy as anything.
[OOC Note: these guys had a plan. They were on all out defense and trying to get right amongst us, and it almost worked. However even on total defense they were still not too hard to hit, and we managed to get them killed before we were overrun.]
The room of course was a giant mess due to the fireball. There were melted tools and body parts of what were likely humans. Nothing of value really but this was some other kind of bizarre workshop.
Out the door was a hallway and some doors. While Valanthe was scouting, some wights noticed her and burst out of one of the doors. We were surprised by this but shook it off quickly. I knew it was a useless effort but I fired at one wight and killed it before it. Rackhir maimed one, and Jozan killed another before the inevitable happened – Dravot had finally recovered his wits. He invoked Pelor’s light with enough force to turn the wights into nothing more than dust, and that was that.
[OOC Note: Basically we were all just killing time, and wights, until Dravot’s initiative came around, and then we knew it was going to be over. And it was.]
The room they came from had more glass jars with body parts in it. The spire grows more macabre floor by floor. There was some gold hidden in one jar that Valanthe uncovered.
We were being very diligent with our detection of evil and undead – it had saved our lives in the floor above and we felt it would continue to be important. There was a significant source of non-undead evil in one room, and I could detect strong magic in that room, and beyond. Behind one of the hallway doors a voice cried out in draconic “Is someone there? Free me!” Valanthe chose to answer it “Why should we free you?”
The reply came “Trapped I am by the wretched Gulthias. For a long time he abandoned me. I can tell you things of Gulthias. Surely you crave knowledge. Free me and I shall tell you all.”
The door itself was enchanted but not nearly so strong as that which was beyond – some type of trap no doubt. Valanthe set off the trap and after a few minor preparations, we open the door.
Dust obscured the designs of the cracked purple mosaic tiles that covered the room. In the center was a magic circle containing a horribly gaunt humanoid thing with a head more like a vulture’s with spiked feathers on the back of it’s head, and hands twisted into claws.
It said “Ah…you have come to talk to Rhuanad.” It was clearly an outsider but Scorch was unsure what type.
Scorch converses with the beast for some time. It’s some kind of demon, imprisoned here by Gulthias many years ago – before Gulthias died. It claims that if we free it, it will tell us what it knows of Gulthias, and then return to the abyss. Naturally this claim is met with some skepticism. However some of us were convinced that it would do as it said, even though it was an evil and untrustworthy being. The actions seemed enough in its best interest that it would likely follow through. We had a long discussion about whether to release it via the scales. Of course Jozan and Dravot were not in favor of releasing this monster, however Dravot was more tentative than Jozan. I was against it. While it claimed to know a great deal, I did not believe it would tell us very much of value, and the risk for releasing it was far too high for such minimal gain.
However the entire effort was soon rendered moot. Had we discussed it, and the majority felt the risk was worthwhile despite my objection, I would have acceded to that. But while we were still discussing it, Valanthe took it upon herself to release this evil thing.
I was in complete shock that she would do this on her own. Here, not days before, I pressed her case, arguing with Dravot for taking actions on his own and violating the trust of the group. And now she turns and does the same thing, acting without consideration for any of us. Valanthe has become more erratic of late – she has generally been willing to take risks without consideration, but lately she is taking risks not just for herself but for all of us. And that does not sit well with me in the least. I was upset at Dravot for his breach of trust, and now Valanthe commits an even bigger breach of trust, and one that could have cost us all our lives. As I sit and write this, I’m more and more troubled by the direction that our group has taken. We have never been particularly close, but we had always in past chosen to work together rather than against each other. But that has changed. Rackhir has allied himself with Chavram out of his hatred for Iuz. Valanthe recklessly pursues whatever she wishes at any given moment. And Dravot’s spirit hangs in a crisis of its own. I’m hopeful that Dravot will find his way from the darkness that clings to his soul, but for the rest, I cannot say. I wonder if we will be able to function as a group any more after this cursed Spire, or if we can even hold ourselves together long enough to complete our task.
In any case, I’ve resolved to hold myself out of any further exchanges between Valanthe and Verulinda, and Dravot. If Valanthe wishes to abandon support, then so be it.
The good side of this was that the demon did as he said – he told us what he knew. Gulthias is a powerful wizard. They slew themselves in a mass ritual to join Ashardalon after his death. But Ashardalon’s heart, harvested from the body after Ashardalon’s death at the hands of Didd, was filled with necromantic power. It brought Gulthias and the other followers back, though even Gulthias did not know this would happen. Once the Spire was a temple to Ashardalon, but now it is a mass tomb. The heart is not sentient but it is power, including the power to bring back the undead after destruction. This explains Gulthias’ seemingly unending stockpile of undead horrors.
The center of the tower – the core – is protected, as we already knew. The heart lies within the core with Gulthias and his followers. To enter the core we will need the four parts of the dragon key. The four parts are hidden in the catacombs below us. (There is one more level below us, then the catacombs.) The other way into the core is via the Gazeway – the carvings of the tree we have found in various areas. It allows Gulthias to see and some creatures can pass to and from the core via these carvings, as we have seen.
The catacombs also have the doorway leading to the core, and at the center will be Gulthias.
The demon also asks if we have encountered Aeoket, and Redbone. Redbone was the chief of the cult’s questioners. He does not know what kind of unlife Redbone has been touched by. There is also Mister Stitches – one of Ashardalon’s children, or what’s left of it.
Gulthias can be killed in the usual ways for a vampire but proximity to the heart gives him extra power. Many here are connected to the black heart, and it gives them more power, including resistance to turning or faster regeneration. Proximity to the heart will be bad for us however. We should be able to destroy the heart through conventional means or a more powerful cleric than we have. (Dravot bristled at this but it was hardly unexpected for an artifact of that power.) We will need to destroy the heart before we can destroy Gulthias.
After telling us all this, the demon cackled, no doubt thinking of the taste of our flesh. But true to its word, it disappeared, presumably back to the plane from whence it came.
We all signed with relief at that – I don’t think any of us were entirely sure it would depart as promised, so seeing it leave without tearing into our flesh was a welcome thing indeed.
As soon as it was gone, Valanthe began reporting on what was in the next room nearby – apparently she had been looking well before the conversation was finished. The room contained three flesh golems, including one with wings and a dragon-like appearance. This must be the magic I sensed earlier and I was glad I had checked – sensing no evil or undead, we had thought the area clear.
As we were placing ourselves to deal with these creatures, they must have heard us and began stirring. I had put myself opposite the door in preparation, and Valanthe opened the door to the room. Across the room I could see the draconic golem that she had told us of – most likely Mister Stitches. I let three arrows fly into it, which all connected easily. These beasts were immune to most magic according to Scorch, but they were not exactly quick.
Scorch began summoning some kind of animal to help in the fight, and Dravot pulled a bear out of the bag of tricks and hurled it on the floor, blocking the doorway and everyone’s line of fire. After a year together, I would have thought we would have known better than this.
However it was Mister Stitches that solved that problem. It moved up towards the door and then inhaled deeply and belched fire through the doorway at us. Most of us ducked aside and were only slightly singed, but the bear was turned into little more than a cinder.
Poor Mister Stitches. That was not the best thing he could have done for himself. The death of the bear meant that Rackhir now had a clear line of fire, and matched my arrows in Stiches’ hide. I suspected that the beast could not take much more of this punishment. One of the other flesh golems charged into the room just then bulling past our defenders.
[OOC Note: next round. Poor Mister Stitches. From the moment that Valanthe opened the door and I saw him across the room, I knew Mister Stitches would be my bitch. After the pounding it got from Rackhir and me, there couldn’t be much life left in him. It will vary with buffs and what not, but on average, Rackhir will do about 50 points if he hits will all three arrows, which he usually will, and for me to do 45ish. Our group is artillery-based.]
Valanthe swung at Mister Stitches but missed. I didn’t want any more fire coming from that beast, and fired at him again – this time the arrows tore even harder into the twisted form, and the beast unraveled before us and fell into pieces. Jozan attacked the golem before him, and Shatterspike ripped into the weak flesh, and that golem too fell apart. Then the animal Scorch was summoning appeared inside the other room and attacked the flesh golem that had yet to emerge. It ignored the beast and came into the room where we waited. Valanthe tore at it, then Jozan, then a single arrow from my bow was enough to put an end to that one also.
The room the golems were in was clearly a golem making laboratory. Some of the workbenches were wrecked but others were clean and neat. Various bits of wire, cable, stitches, bones, belts, preserved arms and legs, and so on were scattered around, and a large slab was in the middle of the room. We took some of the wire and cable in case it should prove useful later. The only object of any interest was a book contained in a locked workbench. It had some instructions on golem making but was incomplete apparently.
Having cleared out this floor, we decided we’d had enough, and departed. This time we exited through the disabled chute trap and again returned to the shattered city to rest.
In the early morning hours, Dravot and Valanthe woke us up. Two spectres were coming. (“Just two?” I thought to myself.) Still I rolled out of my blanket and grabbed my bow and fired an arrow into one. Dravot destroyed them then and we waited, wondering what else was in the darkness.
I just caught the barest trace of some noise nearby and knew we were not alone. With a quick spell I tried to reveal the intruder with dust, but he was not there. Just then a set of claws ripped at Jozan, still unseen. The attack staggered him, and drained some of his life force.
[OOC Note: Whatever this was, it was very very stealthy and probably under improved invisibility. Kayleigh has a very good spot check and barely caught it. The attack on Jozan was a death attack probably from an assassin. He made his saves vs that and the poison so wasn’t too bad off.]
I began searching around for the source of the attack, and then it was black. Darkness covered the area, magical no doubt. I was debating a light spell when Scorch used his Daylight spell to counter it, and normal light returned. There was no sign of the attacker.
I’m sure this was our first visit from Redbone. And I’m just as sure it won’t be the last. But why did he leave?
