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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 1475341" data-attributes="member: 1210">The MoilianOur heroes return to Moil via gate after discovering that the Tomb of Horrors, and the green face within it, are sealed off from teleportation and similar effects.  This leaves the party a trifle concerned, but when the gate proves effectual, they smile in relief and step back into the cold demiplane of the City That Waits. “So let’s see,” says Drelvin.  “There’s this dragon- let’s kill it first- then this dark weaver and its webs of glowing emerald.  Some kind of riddle, and the Vestige- we can check that one off, right?”“Yes,” affirms Orbius, “but it sounds like there are other challenges here as well, so we should stay careful.”  He slaps an extra eye on Thrush.  “Here’s another question: do we want to check out all the other towers?  There might be loot.”  Angelfire cocks an eyebrow as she mentions this.  Our heroes consider.  “We might as well look around a little,” says Sybele hesitantly.  “While we’re here.”“Sure, especially if there’s something to kill in ‘em!” Thrush adds.  “I have some aggression I need to work out.”  The others nod understandingly.“Well, you never know- there might be something else we need, or can use, here,” Sir Maxwell says.  “And the city seems pretty... dead.”The group agrees after a bit of further discussion, and they mass fly to a nearby tower.  Orbius casts foresight upon himself, the better to know when danger is at hand.  He has many sensory inputs going- the extra eye, his mobile scry, his arcane eye... Only his vast intellect, combined with his ultimate concentration, allow him to sort it all out.The lintel of the arch has some sort of sunrise carved into it, but it is hard to make out, being frost-rimed.  Orbius considers reaching forward to rub the frost free, but his foresight warns him, and he warns the others.  “Don’t touch the arch!” he exclaims.  A period of cautious exploration ensues; they find nothing at first, going through a series of icy rooms.  One has a number of different panels painted to depict a variety of landscape scenes.  Another chamber is full of broken rock, as if many statues had been demolished there.  Yet another has a large seat looking out upon a large window to the blackness beyond the tower’s exterior wall; Orbius sits in this to no effect.  In several places, silhouettes are torn free of the ice, leaving humanoid-shaped voids in the shell of ice coating the floor.  The utter silence, save for the noise the party itself makes, is unnerving. Then the party finds a room with even thicker ice, partially blocking a doorway shut; and after minimal effort they free it, forcing it open to reveal a room almost filled with ice.  Only a small area remains exposed to the air; in the center of this area is a strange, vise-like device that clasps a wand.  The side of the wand is decorated with runes; Horbin the Holy, with his helm of subtitles, informs the others that the runes spell out the word “Kindle.”  “A command word,” Orbius surmises.The base of the vise, covered in frost, is decorated with runes as well.  “The choice of Days empowers the wand, but the choice cannot be made from here,” Horbin reads aloud.“So we have to find something else to activate it,” Drelvin says.“Do we even need it?” asks Thrush.“Maybe it’s a trap,” Sybele points out.They ponder this for a while.  “We can always do a bunch of divinations on it and find out if we need it,” Orbius suggests.  The group agrees that this is the wisest course, and they leave the wand for the moment to continue their exploration.  As they explore the tower, Drelvin opens a door to a chamber full of old empty bookshelves that run top to bottom.  As he glances around- the others are searching the room he’s in and its other adjoining chambers- he spies what appears to be a corpse on the ground a short distance away, and he steps forward to check it out.  Then, suddenly, a wave a nausea hits him.  He feels his vigor and health draining away- and the corpse suddenly shambles to its feet!“Guys!  Trouble!” shouts the archer, and he moves back, whipping his bow out and pulling an arrow to string.  The others are moving towards him rapidly, and Orbius, able to see the shambling undead thing as it stumbles forward, fires a magic missile at it.  Much to everyone’s surprise, the thing falls.  Angelfire moves in carefully, not trusting such an easy victory.  But as she moves forward she starts to smile as she sees it stand up.  Thrush and Horbin, ahead of her, cry out as they are subjected to the life draining that Drelvin felt.  “Something’s not right here!” Horbin cries, casting a holy aura around the party.  Drelvin fires a series of arrows so fast nobody’s quite sure how many fly into the thing, but it collapses again.  “Keep your distance!” the archer warns everyone. “I don’t like this,” says Thrush, taking but another step and then slamming his blade- which seems to have erupted into his hand from nowhere- into the body again and again.  Chunks of frozen meat and icy bone fly into the air.  Sybele, Angel, others are moving in to follow his example.Then they all scream in pain and nausea as the life draining sucks at them again, drinking their vitality greedily.  And, once again, the Moilian zombie struggles to its feet.Orbius, meanwhile, has noticed something very disturbing: they’re being scried!  He falls back into the room the party was searching when Drelvin found the zombie and looks around for any sign of more of the zombies.Who’s scrying us? he wonders.  There certainly is no shortage of candidates.  Assuming the worst, it’s Felenga.  And in that case, ain’t no way he can dispel it.  And he’s busy besides.  “Throw it out the window!” he shouts to his comrades as Horbin drops it again- after a ruthless succession of blows from the warrior-types- with a heal.Sybele cries, “I’m gonna smash the window!”  She just looks in its direction and suddenly there’s a blast of concussive force that blows the glass outward with a loud clapping sound.  The party falls back as the thing drags itself back up.  It seems to be absorbing their life if they’re close enough; most of the party has realized, by now, that distance is the key.  Even Patyn and Sir Maxwell back off as it starts moving towards the group.With a sneer on his lips, Londo channels the dark power of the Void all around them and seizes control of the zombie.  He gestures once towards the window, and the creature staggers over to it and throws itself out without a sound.“Whew,” says Horbin, “that was nasty.  Sounds like it’s time for some restorations.”As he prepares to restore the party’s drained constitution, Orbius it preparing to cast a contact other plane.  After the group discusses what he should ask, he casts his mind towards a great power.Who am I speaking to? Old Grandmother.Considering what resources we have, what’s our best attack against the brine dragon?  Fire.Is it harmful to our quest to kill it?  No.What attack forms is it extremely resistant to?  Acid.What’s the brine dragon’s favorite thing to eat?  Pickled humans.Exactly how many days until the L is beyond our reach?  Two.How many days flight will it take on the phantom flyer to reach Lester?  Can’t.Will a wish or miracle, combined or separately, properly worded, bring Lester back?  It’s a start.What would be the completion?  Raise dead or resurrection.“Damn,” Orbius swears.  “All right, guys, we can get the brine dragon today, but tomorrow we’ve got to get Lester!”  He explains what he’s learned and the group solemnly agrees that Lester’s rescue should be seen to.  “After all, you guys just risked everything to rescue me,” says Thrush with a shudder.Orbius suggests that the party seek the dragon out.  “Enough with this lootless tower!” he cries.  “If we need to, we can come back to it.  Let’s get on with this and take care of the dragon!  He’s bound to have loot.”“Lester’s influenced you quite a bit,” remarks Horbin.The party seeks the dragon.Next Time:  Poor dragon, hunted by our heroes...</blockquote>

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