Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="WayneLigon" data-source="post: 1370374" data-attributes="member: 3649">Episode 11: The Howling TowerThe party consists of…Vorz, male Litorian Totem Warrior (Wolf)1/Litorian3Sellik, male Verrik Mage Blade3, Verrick 1Kyran, female Verrik Iron Witch2/Mage Blade2Mont Nuyen, male Human Unbound Unfettered4Alayah, female Loresong Faen Greenbond4Na-Vilarus, male Giant Giant1, Champion of Magic1 Rizz, male kobold Expert2Fourthmonth 5The party continues on up into the rough country, spotting the gleaming flame beacon of the watchtower by night as they draw closer and closer. They spend a quiet day and night, even though they see traces of large numbers of creatures having taken the road recently. Mont takes advantage of the quiet to craft a series of disguises for the group to conceal their movements; from the far distance of the watchtower, they should look like a battered remnant of a bugbear troop coming to refresh and replenish. As they travel on, they take a short break in the afternoon, then press on to travel through the night in the mountains. Though frequent cries from wolfpacks sound in the crags, they see nothing and no-one until dawn the next day as they approach the ruined watchtower that has now become the home of the Wolf Lord. Fourthmonth 6Seen from the watchtower, wyvern riders are dispatched to greet and intimidate the ‘troops’, though the keen eyes of the mozh Magister discern the ruse from afar and he orders the attack. The villains plunge from the sky to rake the party with arrow fire and spells, thought the arrogance of the Magister almost costs him his life as he tells his wyvern to hover so that he can bombard the group with more magic. A searing Sorcerous Blast burns into the party, and then Vorz runs forward, leaps up to the hovering wyvern, and grabs the large docking ring on it’s harness. Bringing the dire greatsword around, the guts the wyvern in one blow, and also severs the straps that hold the double saddle to the reptile’s body. The mozh and his henchman plunge off and over the cliff along the narrow trail, dropping towards the valley floor more than 3000’ away… Seconds later, Vorz cuts off the wyvern’s head with his next mighty blow and jumps free as it follows it’s masters to it’s doom.The other wyvern is brought low, though not before it manages to wound several. The riders leap from it and engage the group; masked and helmeted as they are, it’s hard to even tell what they are, though from the blows they take it quickly becomes apparent that they are undead: they are more of the Crimson One’s servant creatures. One grabs Kryen’s blade and she watches in horror as yellow ichor from the wound runs out, climbs up her sword and drains stingingly all over her hand and arm, which starts to burn and sting. A similar fate happens to another, and just then the telling blows are landed on the monsters; their bodies wither in the sun and pale writhing spiritforms fly from them to dissipate in the dawn’s light. They look over the side and see that the mozh wizard has managed to catch hold of a spur of rock and it still alive. He seems to vanish and Kyren can tell he’s merely turned invisible. So they push the remaining wyvern carcass off the cliff towards him; he manages to avoid this fate, though, and flies off via spell. Mont recognizes the poison as the ichor that produces mummy rot.. Alayah is unable to check the spread of the disease and there is no way to get the afflicted back to civilization before the disease will kill them, then raise them again as servants of the Dark. Mont, however, remembers a potion that might work and, taking some of the rare herbs from Alayah’s searching, brews a tisane that clears them of the disease. (HP spent)The group works their way up towards the citadel, and finds the main watchtower is on a spur of rock that arcs out over nothing; a tall tower stands on a promontory near it, and they deem that something they can assault right now. So they move to it through the trails that Vorz finds, and begin to scale the sides. Seeing rhodin guards and goblins in one level, manufacturing arms and armor, drilling and practicing weapon training, they move up and find the tower divided into living quarters. Sneaking in here, they kill the rhodin guards and their dire-wolf companions, then search the rooms. One appears to be the mozh magister’s place, and Mont restrains himself from simply trashing the entire place before it can be searched. Meanwhile the flying mozh has managed to heal himself and make his way back to the tower. Seeing intruders, he firebursts the corridor while the group is deciding on a course of action. Vorz turns, sprints, and then springs out the fourth-story window, seventy feet up, and grapples the stick-like serpentine mage. A look of horror in the monster’s eyes comes as the fly spell fails under Vorz’ tremendous weight and they both plummet to the ground. Vorz twists and uses the Magister as a landing pad, then waves the others on down. (HP spent)Meanwhile the group has been tossing oil down the stairs and covering it with caltrops to prevent a mass rush by the rhodin, now that they realize something is going on. They start to light the area, when Mont comes out of the magister’s room with a large wooden rack containing many glass and clay bottles full of whatever potions the mage was working on and tosses them down the stairs with one mighty heave. Unfortunately, perhaps, the mage was not working on potions, and the entire rack shatters open, exposing the thirty pots of alchemist’s fire to the air. WhhooooooshhhBOOOMMM! A tremendous explosion rocks the entire tower and a large section of wall and stairs are launched into space; multiple tons of blocks and fragments and timbers crash to the ground at the base of the tower, sealing up the only door out of the place. Rappelling down the walls, the group scatters and flees before an aerial assault can be mounted from the main citadel. They moves over the concealed trails used by the troops and make for a quasi-concealed cave high on the promontory. This proves to be the lair of the dragonne, who has been awaken by the explosion. They parley with the beast-thing and gift it with gold and treasure from the mojh room, plus promise it the take from the citadel. The thing agrees and the party falls into a fitful and uneasy rest while the watches keep eager eyes on both the cave mouth and the dragonne all night long…. They also identify some of the treasure from the mojh body and find a rust Bag of Tricks and a ring of protection; object loresight shows that the ring was forged by Kahz-Hadath, the demon they’d heard of earlier. The next day, they gift the dragonne with more gold and gems, and he takes them via air and via slow fall they drop down on the top of the main citadel, where they kill the ettin watcher and begin firing at the bugbears in the secondary court above the chasm. They force their way down to the second level of the tower, and thus begins their assault on the Citadel of the Wolf Lord….</blockquote>

Verification