Ranger Games Publishing

By nightfall the slayers were camping with the army just a few miles outside of the city of Asternor, its high palisades visible on the eastern horizon. Lord Vorahd welcomed the slayers into his pavilion where he sat at one end of a heavy wooden table making battle plans by oil lamp.

Lord Vorahd: “At first light, you, scouts will go north to investigate the farmsteads there, between the Low West Road and the High West Road, if you find all in order gather able-bodied men for my forces. We will continue to lead the army into Asternor; we will be able to gather more intelligence there. We will be there for two days, if you cannot make it back before then, meet us on the road north, Hill Road.”

The slayers agreed and by late the next morning after rejoining with Kyrahma were again moving through wild glades and weed-tangled fields. They traveled for about an hour and wound up running into the High West Road. Realizing they had gone too far north they turned back south. It was another hour before a cluster of small wood buildings could be seen in the distance. They were brought to a standstill a few hundred feet away from the farm buildings when the stink of rotting troll hit their noses. The fields they were moving through were fallow, with the summer harvest rotting in the field and choked with weeds. They could see a large cloud of flies hovering over the buildings. They moved in cautiously and saw that the buildings were wrecked and apparently abandoned. Vorwulf looked out for an ambush and realized something large was in the closest building, a large barn which was laid open on one side. Vorwulf used the Prying Eye ability on his magic scimitar and sent the thing into the darkened barn. As he concentrated so he could see the inside with the eye the giant corpse of a troll stepped from around corner and attacked!

The giant troll corpse was joined by two others each of the bloated stinking bodies were covered in large open sores and hollowed wounds which were gushing maggots and black swarms of flies. The eyes and mouths were just gaping holes black with buzzing crawling flies; their nostrils dripping with bile-yellow maggots.

Jen (Bers’ Player): “Can this game get any more DISGUSTING! Enough, enough description! [gags]”

Bers took out and began to light a torch as the flies began to surround them flooding the area as a black buzzing torrent. Four giant flies, metallic green spattered with oily black hairs, flew out of the barn at the slayers and those were joined by 3 gestalts born of other masses of flies which flew in over the roof of the barn at the heroes. Vorwulf nailed a giant fly with an arrow, Grom tried to rebuke the gestalt spirits but failed and Bers dropped the unlit torch and pulled her axe. The first round found the adventurers covered in acid spit from the giant flies and the dense swarms which were beginning to choke them as the flies were crawling up their noses as well as getting in their eyes. They could barely see one another. When Bers and Kyr ran forward to engage the troll swarm-corpses Grom and Vorwulf could no longer see them through the swirling swarms. Grom was able to repel vermin causing a sphere to open up in the swarms around himself. Kyr lit a torch but it went out when she swung it at masses of flies swirling about her. Vorwulf managed to pinion a giant fly with an arrow and Bers splattered one with her axe getting covered in dark, red gelatinous fly-blood. She then hacked open a maggot-gushing wound in a troll-corpse with a powerful axe blow.

Jen (Bers’ Player): “This is the grossest battle ever!”

The second round opened with Bers chopping a troll-corpse into two halves revealing a massive gross mound of flies and maggots. Vorwulf retreated until he was out of the swarm but was assailed by an acid-spitting giant fly which he spent the rest of the round shooting at ultimately killing it on a simultaneous attack. Grom was able to rebuke and disperse all 3 of the gestalt-spirits. Bers and Kyr were forced to dodge slam attacks from the remaining corpses which they each facing off with. The shaman cast windrush in an attempt to blow away the flies which he did in a 100 foot long 5 foot wide column along the ground as well as knocking down one of the corpses, a giant fly and unfortunately Kyr, all of which were blown to the end of the 100 feet. She got to her feet and slicing the giant fly into two bleeding chunks with her sword. In the third round with only one of the troll corpses left they ganged up on it with Bers finally chopping it down. The group wasted no time in dousing themselves with their water-skins washing off the acid-spit which was covering their armor.

They made a final inspection of the premises and found that it appeared a fight had occurred here as evidenced by old blood stains but the bodies of the farmers were nowhere to be seen. As for anything valuable or even useful the place had been completely pillaged. With Vorwulf taking the lead the four slayers headed back to Asternor.

Once back inside the palisades of the city the group went their separate ways hoping to unwind. Grom went to the marketplace and found a mage that he paid to identify some of the gear he had pilfered from Ekit’s Watch. He found out that the strange tuning-fork shaped rod made of pale pitted metal was indeed of infernal slag and was used to summon a “pretty nasty” demon. Vorwulf went and rented a room for 3 days in the tavern by the docks. By the end of the day all of them wound up in the tavern by the docks bereft of Vorahd’s warriors as they filled the beerhall. The slayers sans Vorwulf, he had went upstairs to his room, were all sitting at a table near the saloon-doors which led to the streets in front of a banner bearing the city arms, a brown ram’s horn pierced by an arrow with white fletching against a yellow field. After a few rounds they decided for a change of venue to the beerhall as there they could drink for free, they had just realized as members of Vorahd’s army they could drink in the hall financed by Lord Vorahd free of charge. A dirty old-man wrapped in tattered purple robes limped up to the table and as he leaned on a polished black staff put his hand on Bers’ shoulder. She recognized him as Zancor, the old Hyvalian outcast she and Dead-Eye had rescured from an ice-troll so long ago (see the Dragonslayers Pt 16: Gone Troll-Hunting), she welcomed him to the table and bought another round. She found out that he had been in Achoran only a few days ago and was on the last ferry out before Asternor’s Elder Council decided to shut down harbor traffic from the southerly city. Vor showed up washed and perfumed and was introduced to Zancor. Vor remembered what his master had told him about the old Hyvalian.

Zancor: “So you guys a part o’ the army eh?”

Bers continued to talk with him mostly about what they were doing now and what happened to Dead-Eye for which he gave his condolences. Grom asked him a few questions but didn’t get any straight answers and was able to discern that he probably had ulterior motives. They got up and went to the beerhall, Bers invited Zancor and he followed. The night spent in the beerhall had been a bawdy, rowdy one but ultimately helped to relax the adventurers though Bers who had tried to seduce another healthy farm boy went back to her room a little frustrated. Vorwulf, ever mindful of security while he slept, set up a noise trap by the window and on the door to his room.

That night their dreams were again haunted by the Lich-fighter with the shadowy image of Dead-Eye at his shoulder.

 

To Be Continued…

A few hours after splitting from the army on a recruiting mission among the farms just south of Merdna the slayers were traipsing through a wild field crowded with high grasses and peppered with clumps of woody bushes. The land was eerily quiet, no sounds of any birds. In fact, they had not seen any birds in the area since shortly after breaking away from the main force of Vorahd’s army. That was when the stench of troll and rotting flesh invaded their noses and the nerve grating buzz of flies seeped into their ears.

They slowed and continued stealthily ahead until a large corpse, the grey oozing bloated remains of a troll rotting in the sun came into view lying among the grass and weeds, then another, and another, and another. The flies grew thick and hovered in great buzzing masses about the eight blubbery corpses and swept over the field in sickening black waves. As the slayers moved through the gross masses flies began to crawl up their noses, gather on their lips and they could feel them pop and crunch as they got under their armor and clothes. The cacophonous buzz became deafening and the slayers began to run through the swirling clouds of flies. While running Vorwulf and Bers saw vague humanoid shapes and ephemeral sneering faces take mercurial form in the constantly shifting masses. Grom caught sight of them also and, after a successful spirit lore skill check, guessed that they were malignant spirits which were assembling gestalt bodies from the fly-swarms. As the other two continued to run at top speed he stopped and raising his arms, rebuked the spirits. The malignant spirits fled and the flies not blanketing the troll-bodies soon after began to scatter. The three continued on to the farms reaching them within the hour.

They approached the farms careful to make sure they were seen as they could see the farmers at the nearest stead were armed and bearing javelins behind a makeshift bulwark consisting of stakes studded logs and a shallow defensive ditch surrounding the central cabin. Grom walked ahead and was able to act the diplomat allowing the slayers to recruit 20 farmers armed with wooden round shields, short spears, 2 javelins apiece and a battle axe on their belts. The shaman “blessed them welcoming them into the company”. The group returned to the army whom they met on the road 2 hours later.

Vorwulf took up the lead and accidentally followed a game trail leading the army off of the road and into the Aeoch Woods west of the South Road. He realized his mistake when he came upon an ancient monolith at sundown. The slayers and the army set camp, all save Rock-Puncher kept their distance from the monolith. After the camp fires were started the shaman began to cook up a stew consisting of a few dead chickens, he pulled them out of his Bag of Holding, and the wheel of cheese he had taken from Ekit’s Watch of which some of the soldiers partook of. The farmers had their own rations.

Just before dawn the woods were silent save for the army which lay sleeping around smoldering embers except for a couple of guards, a symphony of snores drifted over the camp. Marshal Rock-Puncher lay propped up against the monolith. An ear-shattering roar ripped through the air rousing all except for Grom, the shaman, whom due to his newly acquired deafness remained peacefully unawares. Another roar ripped through the air and Vorwulf identified it as a dragon and as the roar seemed to originate several miles to the south he assumed it was the zombie dragon sieging Achoran. Vorwulf went hunting while the camp sprung back to life intent on getting fresh meat for breakfast. They broke camp shortly after he came back empty handed telling a tale of running into a Chaos Boar. He avoided it by hiding then fled back to camp.

By nightfall Vorahd’s army reached the South Road-High West Road fork where they set camp. Bers tried to seduce a strapping young farmer tempting him with a bottle of fine wine (taken from Ekit’s Watch) but he ultimately drank the wine with her and fled her tent shortly thereafter. During the night as all the slayers slept the fighter-lich haunted their dreams once again fortunately all successfully resisted the constitution drain.

By late the next morning the army had traveled to the town of Marnez marching into the surrounding fields which were a patchwork of fences, fallow fields, tall late season crops of grain all crisscrossed by irrigation ditches. The town’s arms consisted of a golden wheat stalk against a brown field which was painted on most of the buildings that squatted along the main street. The slayers were told just before they entered town that they would be scouting the Low West Road which went southeast along the bank of the Arz river to the South Road Bridge which crossed the Arz to make sure it was safe and clear. The slayers decided to “lunch” in Marnez before heading out. Later just as they were leaving town Bers had to talk the shaman out of buying dozens of chickens getting him to settle for 3, which he put into his Bag of Holding.

Following the Low West Road they, being Bers and Grom led by Vor, reached the bridge by evening. Vor spotted a trail of large clawed footprints which he identified as those of a dragon, a skeletal dragon apparently coming from the water near the bridge heading towards the forest lien then turning back towards the water. He knew they were less than 24 hours old. Vorwulf found a well hidden camping spot in the tree-line. The shaman took the first watch while Bers took the second and Vor the third.

The night passed quietly, again too quietly for the first 2 watches. On the third Vorwulf caught sight of the skeletal rising form the river waters and slinking unnaturally quiet towards the campsite. He shouted the alarm and the other two sprang to action. The battle didn’t last long with Bers getting in 3 power attacks the third smashing the creature to powder. Only the shaman was slightly wounded having been bitten as he engaged it with his magic mace. At sunrise the group returned to Marnez to report the way cleared arriving by midmorning.

They found Lord Vorahd and his jarl were only able to recruit 4 warriors from Marnez whom were armed with round wood shields, battle axes and wearing leather jerkins with the golden stalk embroidered on the chests. The slayers purchased supplies of dried fish, a few casks of ale, and wheels of bread for the road. By the afternoon the army was marching out of Marnez south along the Low West Road. The army set camp by the bridge at the tree-line.

By late the next morning the slayers again found themselves sent on a scouting-slash-recruiting mission. They were to push ahead of the army and then travel off of the road heading east into the north-receding tree-line of the Aeoch Woods where they would find a woodsmen’s camp. It could’ve gone better. The slayers made it easily to the camp after only a few hours and Vorwulf announced their intentions to the woodcutters whom met them with shields and axes. He found that the foreman, Forgax, an older man, was reluctant to commit and was essentially bluffing them when he said, “We’ll meet the army in a few days at Asternor”. So Bers tried to intimidate the woodcutters into following them which did not go over well.

Vorwulf (trying to smooth this over): “We don’t want to kill all of you.”

Strangely enough, this seemed to work as his statement gave them enough pause to look over the very experienced and very well-equipped dragon-slayers more thoroughly. Grom jumped in and helped to disarm the situation with a Social Aptitude skill check of natural 20.

Vorwulf: “A few days then.”

The slayers slunk back to the road and Vorahd’s army with Grom gathering various herbs and roots along the way.

 

To Be Continued…

The early morning sun streaked through the windows of the Hopping Rat tavern gilding the damp taproom which still stunk of spilt ale and worse things with lazy gold. The only two figures amongst the tables and empty mugs were Kyr sitting on a bench by the door and the shaman Grom who was busy putting war-paint on her face.

Isis (Kyr’s Player): “I’m so pumped!”

A few minutes later with the full of the morning sun blazing down on the scene, Kyr entered the ring formed by members of the Coiled Serpent berserker coven in the middle of the muddy street. She faced off with Andracor, a young Coiled Serpent berserker with shaven head. Both were completely nude lacking all else save the war-paint on their faces. Her face was painted yellow with diagonal red streaks and black rimming the eyes and lips. His face was speckled green and blue with bright yellow around the eyes and black along the lips.

Andracor immediately charged, foam bursting from between his black lips, missing with a wild swing at Kyr’s head. Kyr instantly exploded into a screaming rage and snapped at his arm with her sharpened teeth but was easily slapped away. He followed with a vicious punch to her guts and she took the opportunity to bite a chunk from his shoulder barely missing his neck and the carotid artery. He snatched her up in his knotted arms and began to crush her, compressing her ribs; she in turn sank her teeth into his forearm to the bone. Blood and filthy mud flew and spattered onto the roaring crowd as the fighters grappled. Kyr broke free of Andracor’s rib-cracking bear-hug and tried to snatch him up in turn but was instead forced to parry a kick to the stomach. She managed to grab onto him and bite into his shoulder as hard as she could, him head-butting her to keep her from locking her teeth onto his flesh. She landed a tooth-crunching power-punch to his face and his counter went wild missing completely. She followed up with another power-punch but he parried, ducked under her blow and let loose a shot at her jaw. She knocked his fist aside just in time to parry another kick aimed at her stomach. Both were badly injured and bleeding and covered in mud. Andracor threw an overhand swing, was parried and then Kyr jumped forward for another hard bite at his throat. He threw a fist at her face in an attempt to stop her attack. Her nose splattered but her teeth still clamped onto the mark tearing his throat open. Torrents of hot blood gushed everywhere. The young berserk fell limply into the mud. Still in a blind rage Kyrahma leapt atop the corpse and rained fists into its skull peppering the dark mud with white teeth until her rage faded into exhaustion.

Jen (to Isis): “Oh No! You’re sweating! And your face is all RED!”

Isis (Kyr’s Player): “Yeah and I’m breathing hard too!”

Jen (to Isis): “Maybe you shouldn’t play this game!”

Isis: “No man no! I’m fine, she survived! I thought I was gonna die but whew! I did it!”

Jen: “Jeesh!”

The Coiled Serpents left their be-shamed brother’s body in the street and dispersed with the crowd. Vorwulf was annoyed that he couldn’t find any ‘action’ during the fight and the shaman had remained in the Hopping Rat after painting Kyr’s face to converse with a young shaman apparently another vagabond of the Ogtra who had shown up late the previous night. The army of Lord Vorahd was preparing to move out by at least noontime so the slayers, after Kyr’s trial by combat, prepared their kits for travel.

The shaman introduced Og to the group a little while later telling them he was another errant shaman of his tribe, the Ogtra tribe from the far north. Og was going to wait for Grom to return and stay in the tavern with Drasknor, Vorwulf’s protégé. By early afternoon they marched out. The army marched along the South Road on their way to Marnez, a farming community on the banks of the Arz River a tributary of the more southerly and much larger Nirix River. From there Lord Vorahd planned on heading to the city of Asternor along the Low West Road which followed the northern banks of the Arz and then Nirix rivers. It was figured that it should take the force of forty-one men plus the slayers 2 days to reach the South Road/High-West Road Fork about 4 miles north-east of Marnez.

A few miles outside the palisades of Merdna just as the tree-line of the Aeoch woods came into view the slayers, as the army’s sole scouting force, was commanded east-north-east towards the farmsteads there to recruit all able-bodied men while the main force continued south on the road. Kyr would remain behind with the main force as she was still badly hurt not to mention she was also busy stringing the teeth she had picked out of the mud into a necklace. The remaining 3 slayers broke away, rushed into the bush and quickly disappeared into the high, green grass.

 

To Be Continued…

The slayers were up at dawn with the idea in their heads that the wizard must have had a secret way to get into the nearby dragon’s lair from the tower. After breakfast they found themselves in the storeroom and began their search. They found the front door completely destroyed and so irreparable. The wellhead then caught their attentions for some reason and Vorwulf and Kyr took turns inspecting it being lowered in and pulled up via Vor’s rope. Vorwulf got dowsed when he kicked at some loose stones in the oozing well-wall through the gaps of which foul waters were seeping. The wall had burst and a gush of dragon-tainted waters had inundated him.

Vorwulf (covered in slime and stinking of dragon): “Well, the waters are definitely flowing from Sawback’s lair.”

He could see no way from the well into the lair and so after a few hours they gave that idea up and lounged around the rest of the day determined to leave for the city of Merdna at sunrise.

During the night on second watch Bers had caught sight of the flames of battle in a clearing south of the tower. She saw Hill-Lander mercenaries retreating to the west and lots of large bodies and many more smaller troops moving slow and weird among them. Later on third watch Vorwulf was determined to keep an eye on the field from which now they could see no active fires as before. He took out his spyglass and scoped over the clearing. He saw several undead stumbling about and a decidedly human mage dressed in crimson with a red-hood over his face occasionally stopping and stooping over the bodies that lay in the field. While he was sweeping over the field Vorwulf met eyes with a fighter lich which was floating lazily and aimlessly about. He recognized it as the same fighter-lich that they had bested at the mouth of Sawback’s lair and which now haunted their dreams. If it had had lips he could’ve sworn it was smiling at him. The mage and lich were busy animating the war-dead. Just before dawn the battle field lay empty.

They packed their gear that morning after breakfast. The shaman commanded the chests to walk down from the top floor but found that they were too slow to take on the road with him and so decided to command them into the oubliette into which they obediently thudded. After exiting the tower they predictably found that their mounts which they had left tied at the bottom of the steps several days ago were missing. So they continued on foot.

Grom the shaman: “Crap! I just realized I don’t know how I’m gonna get those chests back out of there!”

They walked at a speedy pace headed directly east running into a farm immediately after breaking the tree-line of Nor-forest. They approached a farmer, who emerged from the farm compound to meet them armed with a round-shield and axe. He told them troops had moved west towards Ekit’s Watch last evening but there was no other news besides that. The girls whom the slayers had rescued ran into the farm compound and the farmer that the group was speaking to seemed to recognize them as they swept past him. He turned towards the slayers with a hardened expression and eyes filled with suspicion so they moved on.

They quickly made the road and a couple of hours later they ran into a large group of refugees fleeing the fertum. They were all in various stages of the fever which Grom had cured in Merdna (see the Dragonslayers II: Part 3 – The Hopping Rat). The adventurers also noted with some melancholy that they had no children with them. When questioned, the refugees told them that most of the warriors and the lord of the fertum, Lord Vorahd, were still alive but sick. The druidic marshal of Hirok-Nor, named Bullom the Rock-Puncher (he was introduced the first time the slayers were in Merdna in the game but as they never interacted with him then, I left him out of the blog which would have been in the Dragonslayers: Part 28 – The Blackened Cathedral), was there as well and so far as they knew the only person not touched by the plague. They were fleeing the fertum where they had been trapped for some time due to a sudden siege by the forces of Trollguard. The siege was lifted as quickly and mysteriously as it had begun just last night. Grom took mercy on three dying women among the sick curing them and as soon as he did the rest began to surround him desperately pleading for his services. In a panic for he had no more of the cure left on him, he tossed up a couple of handfuls of his herbs shouting, “Eat these” and as the crowd grappled for them the slayers ran away. By early evening they arrived at the fertum.

The banners with the white ram hung in shreds on both sides of the battered gate. They announced themselves upon approach but were concerned as the place appeared to be deserted. The gate creaked open slowly and they could see a half-giant with a wild mane of hair pulling it open. He was rippling with muscle and was at least 7 feet in height wearing nothing more than a tattered jerkin, a thick leather belt and a loincloth. His heavy, solid iron ale-mug was hanging from a thong off his belt. Vor and Bers recognized him as the druidic marshal Bullon Rock-Puncher.

Rock-Puncher: “Ha-ha! YOU [pointing at the shaman] yes you! You’re the shaman we’ve heard about from Merdna. Right!?”

Grom acknowledged this and after a brief conversation agreed to be taken to Lord Vorahd and to begin working to cure the fertum of the plague. He was led by the marshal to a high room in the manor house on the grounds. He was guided to the chamber whereat Lord Vorahd sat in a heavy wooden chair. The man was old with a woolly grey beard streaked with black that reached to the center of his wide chest. His long peppered hair was draped over his shoulders which were high and powerful, the results of a lifetime of wielding the weight of a bearded ax. His deep green eyes were set deep within his face and focused with the hardened air of Westlander nobility. He was gathered into a blanket which he held tightly to himself. When he spoke it was haltingly and with great effort. Grom found that the seasoned lord had been badly wounded in a night battle when they had first tried to break the siege lines but was able after a few hours to bring him back from the brink of death and close the large wound on his side.

The slayers decided to stay in the fertum as it would take until the morning after the next for Grom to brew enough of the cure for all 76 of the troops within even with the help of the Haldred (advisor office held by druids or mages that have little or nothing to do with the Orthodox Druidic Church of the Westlands). In the meantime Bers, Vor and Kyr occupied themselves dousing the piles of rotting, diseased corpses crowding the main street with lamp oil and setting them ablaze with their torches. They were the only ones left in the place able to do so.

After two days the sick were cured and the place was up and running. The Haldred passed along a writ of hospitality to the shaman which would allow him access to most noble houses to be treated with royal hospitality as if he were a housecarl/knight. The Haldred was determined to make his rounds around Hirok-Nor providing the cure using Grom’s formula and was leaving that morning by himself. On the same note Lord Vorahd was determined to rally his troops and lead an army against the trolls clearing them from the land once and for all.

Cris (Vorwulf’s Player): “Yeah, he has to do that. Guess we’ll join him?”

The rest of the players agreed and so their characters volunteered to join Vorahd’s army. He accepted and assigned them as the forward scout unit. They left around noon with the army which numbered 38 (the fertum warriors and their jarl) in addition to the marshal. The army was marching to Merdna where they would recruit more troops. By nightfall they were within the city palisades. The slayers retreated directly to their tavern the Hopping Rat.

They were heading to the back room in order to split up the loot they had snagged from Ekit’s Watch when Stranez the Beautiful, the bard’s multi-racial nomad wife, stepped into their path. Without ceremony Kyr told her that the bard was dead (see the Dragonslayers II: Part 4 – The Day the Music Died) and she, more angry and annoyed than upset, demanded that they pay her the insurance for his life as he was hired under the guild.

Stranez: “He can no longer earn for his family! What am I to do now! You owe me!”

Vor tossed her 2 gold talons and 3 high quality garnets which she happily accepted.

A few minutes later as they divvied up the loot the shaman found out that Bers, Vor and Kyr had lost the totems he had made for and given them way back in Chago and was mildly offended. Just as they finished splitting up the booty they could hear a commotion break out in the tap-room. When they emerged from the backroom they saw a group of armed men waiting for them.

All of the intruders were wearing quilted gambesons, three of them with a crimson escutcheon with a needle threaded with white thread on their chests and crimson cloaks. The crests on the other three were dark green squares with a crossed axe and log as the central charge and dark green cloaks. Four of the men were armed with two-handed wooden mauls. An unarmed pair each with in one of the two aforementioned costumes approached the adventurers introducing themselves as the spokesmen of the clothworkers’ and the woodcutters’ guilds respectively. The adventurers would need to file some paperwork to be officially recognized by the other guilds, by the clothworkers and woodcutters in particular, and be allowed to operate in the city of Merdna and the territory of Hirok-Nor. They would also have to pledge to the defense of the town either through warriors pledged by their guild or by helping to fund it. Vorwulf began negotiating ultimately signing a document along with Bers making them the top representatives of the Black Wings Dragon-Slayers’ Guild of Hirok-Nor. They would decide the structure of the organization later as they would have to ship out in the morning with Lord Vorahd’s army. As negotiations ended and the guildsmen and the slayers were about to lift some ale the Coiled Serpent berserkers burst in lead by Gafar (see the Dragonslayers II: Part 3 – The Hopping Rat) in his full Holy Berserk regalia his tattooed chest heaving.

The glistening snake-mask on his face shone with scales painted with crushed emeralds as he roared from underneath it; the enamel-red mouth was open wide baring two-long mother of pearl fangs.

“I am the Holy Berserk presiding over all of Hirok-Nor! There has been an injustice among the warriors of this city which must be drowned in BLOOD!”

Andracor, the young berserk whom Kyr had beaten in a barehanded alley brawl (see the Dragonslayers II: Part 3), stepped from behind him his eyes locked on the Ferenoi. The Holy Berserk pointed at Kyrahma.

Gafar (the holy berserk): “There has been a complaint of dishonorable combat amongst you! Kyrahma of the Black Wings has been accused of an unfair duel by Andracor of the Coiled Serpents! My judgment is …

 

To Be Continued…

The slayers’ footsteps echoed throughout the large octagonal chamber reverberating across its marble-tile floors as they rose from the lower level via the trapdoor. The chamber was dimly lit by the red dusk-light leaking through the four large windows, one with the glass blown out. There were scorch marks on the floor and a small area of shattered tile. Broken arrows, some gilded with silver, peppered the chamber walls, a few pillars and some were stuck in the floor. The far side of the chamber was polluted with a large puddle of greyish slime where the steps to the lower battlements had been, the orange sky visible in a square through the portal in the ceiling to where the steps had led. Among this ruin was the headless corpse of Moezra the were-raven in a congealed puddle of blood.

Vorwulf immediately went to the leather trunk and lifted its lid. In it he found 1 jade rod, 3 labeled potion bottles (Neutralize Poison, Protection from Demons, and Purification), and a manual of demon-lore. The other three turned their attentions towards the two iron chests near the northwest wall. The chests appeared to be solid iron with no apparent locks, sitting on lion’s paw feet and bearing the relief of a lion’s head on one end.

Grom the shaman: “Kyr you should try and open them.”

Vorwulf: “Watch it with those chests they might come alive and attack us or something!”

Kyr and Grom approached a chest each and the shaman sensed magic on the one nearest him and after he said so, Kyr refused to touch either of the chests. Vorwulf, on a hunch, searched the mage’s corpse and found a key hidden under its feathers. Realizing the key didn’t go to the lockless chests the shaman cast protection from poison on himself and attempted to pry the lid off one with the crowbar but found there was no purchase for the tool. He tried to pass the crowbar to Kyr but she refused. Getting another idea Vorwulf tossed his trophy, the mage’s raven-like head, to Kyr. She touched it to one of the chests without effect. All the while Bers was inspecting the chests but could glean nothing else from her effort. Vorwulf looked behind each of the two tapestries bearing the images of a purple dragon on the west wall and a white dragon on the east in search of any possible secret compartments but again found nothing. He went to the window and pulled up the rope which he had used to rappel down earlier in the day.

He checked it then used it and his grappling hook to gain purchase on the portal in the ceiling.

Kyr: “Yes the ladies! Let’s save the ladies!”

At the same time as the others began to climb the rope the shaman used his clairvoyance on the chests and discovered the command words in order to open them as well as make them walk. He then followed after the others finding the rope slicked by the strange slime as if it had wicked or slithered part way up the rope as it hung there though it did not hinder his climb. They found themselves atop the lower battlements confronted with a pair of iron cages imprisoning two naked girls. Vorwulf broke the lock off one and Kyr pried open the door of the second. The girls stumbled out of the cages and gave blubbering accounts of where they were from, farms from the north side of Merdna lake when questioned. The shaman put his cloak on one of the girls. Their attentions turned towards the spiked bronze door in the south wall above which they could see the crenulations of the upper battlements a stone stair on either side. On the door was a glowing rune and Kyr, who still had the head in her possession, jammed the feathered skull on the door-spikes and opened the door.

Vorwulf: “Hey! Don’t mess up my head! That’s my trophy!”

Kyr pulled the head off the spikes and tossed it to the ranger.

They entered the room, it had 10 ft ceiling and was mostly empty. A single large lead-pane window let in the only light and was recessed in the south wall. A large iron chandelier hung from the rafters above and 5 high quality carpets lay over the wood plank floor. A tapestry of a green dragon in a forest was hanging on the southeastern wall. A stuffed leather armchair sat facing the window with a small oak table next to it. On top the oak table was a silver candlestick, a half-filled bottle of whiskey and a silver goblet. In the east end of the room was simple bed and a polished oak table with chair. On that table was a bottle of ink, a quill, an open journal and under it was a leather chest. There were book shelves along some of the walls and an arrow slit in the east and west corners. At the center of the room sat a large sack obviously stitched from the skin of human and faunic faces tied shut with a short rope made of braided hair. Vor opened the bag and found 8 gold talons within stamped with the arms of Blackbrow.

Vorwulf: “This must be the gold the vampires paid him. We must be in his library.”

Grom: “I call the carpets those are mine!”

Bers: “I don’t have any use for a library.”

After rolling up the carpets and tucking those away in his bag of holding the shaman began to read the journal. He found that Moezra had figured out how to open the mirror door to the vault in Sawback’s lair finding a counter-spell, a very difficult one, which could open it. Unfortunately he couldn’t cast the spell being a shaman and all. They found writing supplies in the leather chest and found that the book shelves contained 1 Standard Booklot (spellcraft), and 2 Comprehensive Booklots (magical script, use & recognize poison). The shaman then realized the chickens he had tied to his belt were completely stripped of all flesh probably from when they faced the demon and then pulled another 3 from his bag of holding which he found had suffocated. He was going to make dinner but the others said they wouldn’t touch those rotten things no matter how he cooked them.

They decided to stay the night in the library and decided watches as they unrolled their beds. The shaman used his remaining spells for the day to heal Vorwulf and Bers. It wasn’t until second watch that things turned risky.

Bers was on second watch and hearing something coming from outside through an arrow slit she walked to the window and looked down. She saw about a dozen human warriors bearing torches with around 5 trolls among them all being led by a giant troll. She was busy waking the rest of the group when they all heard a massive pounding akin to a battering ram from downstairs on the front door. They had time to half-equip themselves and led by Vorwulf hustled down the rope.

He shouted to Grom, “grab the mage’s robe and put it on make sure the cowl’s over yer head!”

They continued on until they made it to the room with the standing armor where Vorwulf made a sharp turn to the right through the archway into the moonlit room with the shaman immediately following. As soon as Vorwulf passed under the arch the armor sprung to life and just barely missed Grom with its heavy spiked mace.

They engaged the animated armor in combat. In the first round Grom was able to disarm it of the mace and it stumbled while using its shield in an attempt to slam Bers throwing it. They realized their swords were dealing virtually no damage to it and Bers in response picked up the heavy mace from the floor.  In the second round Bers began power-bashing the armor and Vorwulf turned to the shaman.

Vorwulf: “S#*t! Go,go,go! Me and Bers’ll handle this! You [to Kyr] go with the shaman!”

Cris (Vorwulf’s Player): “I knew something like this was going to happen!”

Gil (Grom’s Player): “At exactly the wrong time! Exactly.”

The shaman ran at top speed into the octagonal moon chamber into the laboratory stomping over the remains of the door, up into the larder and through the sitting to the stairs in record time. Kyr struggled to keep up. Bers and Vor continued to engage the animated armor. By the beginning of the third round the shaman and Kyr were at the ground level in the storeroom where they had faced the demon the previous day. Kyr remained halfway down the steps in an effort to stay hidden but still be able to see what was transpiring. The shaman ran towards the front door as it began to splinter with every furious knock.

Giant Troll: “Wizeeerd! Open up! We know the dragon-slayerzzz are here! Open!”

As Grom got within 10 ft. of the door it burst into splinters and the giant troll stuck his face in the doorway. It was gazing into the darkness of the tower with one wide eye the doorframe completely filled by sore spattered warty brown troll-flesh.

Grom (imitating the were-raven): “My door!”

Giant Troll: “oh uh. Sorry bout yer door but turn ‘em over! But we paid you for this so give ‘em to us we know you got ‘em.”

Grom: “I have already slain them they are dead! Take my word for it troll!”

The troll seemed to buy it as did those behind him that could hear and with complaints and snorts the human mercs and trolls departed. Meanwhile upstairs the fight went into its third round with a lightning tongue shooting from the animated armor’s closed helm after the visor opened. Fortunately both slayers were able to avoid it and after Vorwulf landed a power attack Bers followed with her own smashing the armor to bits. They hurried downstairs to join the shaman and Kyr.

After the situation calmed the adventurers used the two intact crates to block up the door and pulled the lever in the door niche to arm the outer trap-door mechanism. They made their way back up to the library at the top of the tower. There they found the two girls joined by a filthy third holding each other and crying fearing the worst.

Grom: “Wait. One, two, three!?”

Gil (Grom’s Player): “That’s it! I pull out my mace and get ready to murder her!” He rolled a Sense Motive check against her story of hiding in the latrine and in various places around the tower for the past month after she escaped from the cages but she was unable to flee the tower. After that the group decided to get back to their rest. Their dreams were haunted by visions and a familiar foe.

Vor suffered a fitful sleep the image of the fighter lich they last encountered at the mouth of Sawback’s lair whom turned to glance over its shoulder revealing the site of Dead-Eye’s grave. The turf grown over the grave split as did the black earth and a cloaked figure bearing his former master’s longsword and bow, those buried with him, rose. He woke suddenly drenched in sweat a drop of blood ran from his nose and felt a little ill. He wiped the blood away and went back to sleep.

In the morning when all rose and after breakfast Vorwulf related his dream. Bers had the same dream and both of them were a little ill. The shaman cast a restoration to restore their constitution and related his dream-vision. He had dreamt that he was soaring bodily over an endless forest like those found in the far north near his home and soon a great looming shadow, a dragon-shadow began to appear racing him over the treetops suddenly a pair of flapping red wings created a roaring torrent of air then he fell from the sky into a vast river-bed and when he looked up from the ground he saw a giant glowing toadstool as tall as a tree. He awoke soon after drenched in sweat. The image of his clansmen incinerated in dragon-fire from a great red still danced in his head. Kyr admitted she had a dream but refused to reveal it.

Isis (Kyr’s Player): “She’s a woman of mysteries!”

Kyr volunteered to take the girls downstairs in order to ‘wash and dress them’. As soon as she and the girls were down there she successfully seduced all three of them.

Cris: “Man, taking advantage of those girls when they’re vulnerable! All traumatized and s#*t!”

Vor kept a watch from the upper battlements and Bers and Grom remained in the library when Bers noticed that the human-skin sack had an eye open and was watching them. She lit a torch and jabbed at the sack which began to squirm in response. She grabbed a bottle of lamp oil and doused it setting it alight with her torch. As it burned the mouths which were stitched closed ripped open and began screaming. Bers withstood the soul-shattering force of the scream but blood burst from the shaman’s ears, his body went erect then he fell forward on his face like a plank of wood. Vor leapt through the door just as the screaming stopped. The room was permeated with the thick, foul smelling oily smoke of the bag’s cremation. They both checked the shaman for signs of life.

Gil: “No! Grom’s dead! Oh, well, s#*t. Guess it’s time for a new character.”

Jen (Bers’ Player): “Wait! What about a luck roll, you rolled a natural 1 maybe it’ll help you!”

The shaman awoke after a few minutes but permanently partially deaf which he tried to cure with a restoration spell but the spell failed. After the shaman was at his full faculties they went to find Kyr and the girls but stumbled upon a scene they simply backed out of and waited up top for Kyr to show up. The girls were clean, very clean and were wearing the dead mage’s fine silk clothes. The group decided to spend 1 more day at Ekit’s Watch since they all needed the rest especially after the last night!

 

To Be Continued…

After having defeated the were-raven mage Moezra and his gruesome demon the slayers crept cautiously up the stone steps which rose from the ground floor and its black oubliettes to an archway flickering with flame-light.

Vorwulf: “This is a wizard’s lair so watch it.”

Bers: “No duh!”

The room at the top of the steps was small with an angular northwest wall in which was a large cleft revealing the latrine. The room was torch-lit and windowless with a door-less archway to the east and a solid bronze door with an image of a roaring demon over the entire door-face in the south wall. The south door did appear to be locked and all could see the evil glow of the rune engraved on the demon-image’s forehead. Vorwulf peeked through the archway into what appeared to be a sitting room from which a narrow band of sunlight beamed in through the arrow slit in the north wall. There was a black iron door in the south wall bearing the image of a twisting serpent, also apparently locked, an unlit golden candelabrum on either side. A table of an unidentifiable exotic wood squatted in the dark northwest corner on which sat an astrolabe and a small wood box, a finely carved bone pipe sitting atop that. Vorwulf took the pipe and checked the box in which he found contained fine smoking herbs. There was also an unlabeled vial of yellow powder which the shaman identified as yellow lotus pollen and he took that. There was also a stuffed leather chair in the niche next to the arrow slit. They proceeded to an archway in the east wall from which a spicy scent was wafting.

Bunches of all kinds of spices were hanging from the ceiling rafters and the angled northeast wall was lined with shelves filled with bottles of spices, a 1lb. sack of salt, 3 bottles of wine, 1 jar of honey and 10 lbs. of salt fish. On a small square table in the north corner sat a wheel of cheese, a knife, fork, spoon and a stack of 4 wood cups, 4 wood bowls and 4 wood plates. On the floor beneath it sat a 10 lb. sack of nuts. In the southwest corner next to the door in the south wall was bronze-wood barrel with a loose cover. The door was a solid looking wood door which could only be opened from the other side. The shaman occupied himself in collecting as many spices he could carry while Bers contemplated the door. Vorwulf lifted the lid of the barrel and found a plate of roasted chicken, a loaf of freshly baked bread and steaming squash & potatoes along with a full jack of fine wine. He replaced the cover and Kyr tried it out but failed to pull anything else out of it. The shaman performed clairvoyance on the bronze demon-door and the black iron door. He found that the bronze door if touched would emit the effects of the Fear spell if touched by any other than Moezra. The black iron door would emit a cone of poison gas filling the entire chamber if touched by any other than Moezra. He returned to the larder with his new revelations just as Bers decided to try the wood door. Bers tried to kick down the wood door but failed. Grom (the shaman) cast Bull’s Strength on her but it still took another 3 tries to bash the door down.

They found themselves in what appeared to be a magical laboratory. Alchemist’s glassware covered the long worn table in the southwest. There was a large wooden chest in the northwest and northeast corners on both sides of their entrance both were locked. Grom found 3 bottles of acid, 1 bottle of powered diamond, 1 polished copper mirror and an alchemical manual on the table. Vorwulf took a crowbar to the northwest chest. Inside he found 1 bottle labeled ‘mummy powder’, a book of what appeared to be potion formulae, 4 dragon-scales (identified as shadow dragon scales) and 8 bottles of various color pigments.

Vorwulf looking wide-eyed: “Crap. I screwed up. I should’ve checked that chest for traps first.”

Bers after receiving the crowbar from Vorwulf checked the other chest for traps before she pried it open. She found multiple scrolls of paper, a book of Westland dragon-lore (that got snatched up quick), 3 large semi-precious crystals, 1 potion labeled ‘Stone to Flesh’ and 1 piece of obsidian and 1 onyx. They checked the small narrow room through the east archway which was lit by an arrow slit and found a couple of crates and shelves on both sides of the arch. On the shelves was an alchemist’s kit, a bottle of powdered onyx, various tools and writing implements. In the crates were jars of various herbs, dried insects and preserved bits of animals such as lizard tails and batwings. They then proceeded through the archway in the laboratory’s west wall.

They came into an octagonal chamber with dark wood paneled walls and dome ceiling painted with the image of the night sky with a full silver moon. The only light manifest in the chamber came from the painted moon filling the chamber with what seemed to be true moonlight. A stuffed leather chair sat against the angled northwest wall, a polished jet table inlaid with mother of pearl sat at the center of the room. A locked cabinet was against the southeast wall and a tapestry hung over the southwest angled wall which bore the image of a murder of crows. Vorwulf checked behind the tapestry for a hidden compartment but found nothing. Grom snatched up the crowbar from Bers and went to smash open the locked cabinet. The others ran back through the east archway ‘just in case’.

The shaman wrenched open the cabinet doors rolling a Natural 20 for the pry check also inhaling the blast of fine brown dust which hit him in the face at the same time. He definitely felt the effects of a powerful toxin but only the secondary effects imparting a -4 to all Will saves and CHA based checks (unfortunately all of his magic is based on his CHA). Bers gave him a Purification potion which negated the poison. Within the cabinet he found 3 rings (made of titanium, gold and bronze respectively), a leather pouch containing 50 silver pieces, an ironwood scepter with copper embossing, a scroll with the spell Wood to Weapon on it, a crystal ball, a ruby wand, a bronze wood wand, a bottle of Oil of Preserve Corpse, and 2 potions (Ghost Form and Celerity). After they finished looting the cabinet Vorwulf lit a gold oil lamp that he had picked up and they continued through the west archway into a dark chamber where the only light was a thin blade of white daylight slicing in from a westerly arrow slit from between a pair of round columns.

The room was mostly bare save for the suit of full plate of obvious Ivoran make standing in the northeast corner next to the archway they had entered. It bore a shield painted red with the black silhouette of a raven and a heavy mace in the other hand.

Cris (Vorwulf’s Player): “Is it moving at all? No. Hmm.”

To the north was the backside of the bronze demon-door and to the south was a solid oak door with black iron hardware upon which was a glowing rune. They were stymied as none of them were willing to even get near the door; Vorwulf was still keeping a careful watch over the armor. Grom performed his Clairvoyance spell and envisioned the mage Moezra opening and walking through the door which repeated and zoomed in to his hand touching the door. After he told them his vision they figured out that they could open the doors using Moezra’s head which was being carried as a trophy by Vorwulf. They touched the head to the door and were able to open it without a problem. They continued south into the room the door communicated with all the while Vorwulf keep glancing back at the armor.

They entered into another triangular chamber, the south wall being diagonal. The room was lit with a warm light emanated by a pair of quartz fire-gems set in the torch sconces. There was a chest of drawers of polished redwood against the diagonal wall. A table with a matching wood chair was in the northeast corner upon which sat a ceramic basin, a wood cup, a clay jug filled with water, a bar of soap, a rag and a small bottle of perfume. Vorwulf snatched up the soap and perfume.

Bers: “Damn, I should’ve done that.”

Kyr and Grom went through the chest of drawers finding about 20 articles of high quality clothing and a pair of red silk slippers each with a single large opal on them. After ransacking that room they moved through the archway in the east wall into the were-raven’s bed chamber. The room is lit by a narrow slash of weak sun coming through the arrow slit in the south wall falling upon the superior quality carpet on the floor and glinting from the four censers hanging from the ceiling filled with mild aromatic resins as evidenced by their noses. The other light in the room, a strange deep-blue glow, was provided by a fire-sapphire sitting on the stool by the bed which was in the southwest corner of the room. There was an unlocked chest in the northeast corner and a cabinet in the northwest corner of the room. Bers and Grom pushed Kyr towards the chest and told her to check it for traps. Vorwulf rifled the four-poster bed and found several handfuls of small loops of braided hair tied with scraps of clothing under the mattress. The shaman busied himself rolling up the carpet and stuffing it into his bag of holding. Kyr opened the chest and found a suit of silk bedclothes, 1 set of high quality bed linens, and 1 bottle of yellow lotus pollen containing at least 3 doses which was given to the shaman. Bers gathered up and took the bed linens.

Kyr: “What’re gonna do with those!? You don’t sleep in a bed!”

Bers: “Not out here but I like to sleep in style.”

Vorwulf then checked the unlocked cabinet within he found 1 gold oil lamp, a bottle of lamp oil (an hour’s worth), steel & flint, straw matches, an empty clay pitcher, a wood cup, 1 bottle of whiskey and 1 silver goblet studded with aquamarines. After taking the whiskey and giving the goblet to Kyr, the others each have their own ‘fancy’ goblets, he turned his attention to the black iron door in the east wall. He recognized it as the door with the glowing white rune he had seen from the other side when he was looking for a way down after slaying the were-raven mage Moezra. To avoid any trouble he used his Powder of Knock. The door opened of its own accord after the powder was tossed over it.

Vorwulf found himself in a familiar place after the group surmounted the stone spiral staircase. They had entered the room where he had faced off with the mage.

 

To Be Continued…

By sundown the slayers found themselves half-way up the south-western-most slope of Hirok below Ekit’s Watch on their way to see the wizard. It was dark and the group was passing into a dense clump of scrub when Vorwulf detected something moving in the bush. He spotted some human shapes prowling around the bushes one of which had its bow drawn on him. He knocked an arrow and a voice rang out with Bers’ name. The slayers had run into the Hill-Landers (see The Dragonslayers Pt. 10 & 14) Han the half-faun ranger/archer, Skran the half-faun/half-Hill-Giant and Baalkra the satyr. They were wearing plate armor painted a dull, dirty black. They explained that they had been spying and were on the wrong side of the battle lines to the south amongst the Black Soldiery on the side of the lich of Black Brow whose forces were currently sieging the city of Achoran on the south bank of the Nirix River in the south. They had left in disgust but had got all the info that they needed and were thusly returning home to report when they ran into the dragon-slayers. They asked after Dead-Eye and were sorry to hear of his death and Bers introduced them to Vorwulf his pupil. Vorwulf wasted no time in grilling them.

The group was told that the Hill-Landers had found that a large part of the lich’s army was composed of the Black Soldiery, a gaggle of thugs, criminals and sell-swords who wear black painted armor identical to that they were wearing. They also had seen that the Blackbrow forces had undead dragons on their side with a draeco-zombie and a “dragon-skelly” on the south-side of the river. They have heard a rumor of another more powerful undead dragon but also heard it was sieging a fortress somewhere in the Cleft-Rills region farther to the east. The command structure of the “black army” is 3 disciples, young necromancers, at the head of the siege forces with 3 units of zombie warriors and “skellys” led by a Death Knight serving as general followed by 3 fighter liches serving as captains and 3 vampire warriors as lieutenants. The shields of the undead soldiers bear the standards of a rampant rooster against a purple field, a green snake biting its tail on a brown field, a red hawk on a light blue field and a sword through a coin on a blue field. These corpse-fighters fall dead every dawn and rise at dusk. The black soldiery number in around 100 fighters and are well-paid they have a similar straight forward military hierarchy with a general, 2 captains, 2 lieutenants under each captain and 2 sergeants under each lieutenant and all are well-paid. They also revel in the rapine, pillage, and murder that they engage in. On the battlefield their dead are raised as zombies along with any other war-dead raised by the disciples. Vorwulf lets them know that they no longer have to worry about 1 of the disciples anymore. They pass on a couple of passwords used by the Black Soldiery but were not sure if they were still good or not. They left shortly after Bers asked about Sir Chinsalis. It had been some months since they had last seen him just before departing for their spy mission several months ago. As far as they knew he was currently tied up in a crusade against the druids of Strignor back in Chago far to the west.

After the Hill-Lander spies had left Vorwulf found a campsite that was well-hidden amongst the brush which clumped against the hillside with Ekit’s Watch in clear view. The first two watches passed without incident but on the third, Vorwulf’s watch, he spied a pair of bat-like creatures which he deduced to be vampires flying towards the mage tower a leather sack in tow. With his spyglass in hand he watched them land on the battlements at the top of Ekit’s Watch. Come morning and after Vorwulf briefed the rest of them about the vampires the shaman decided to cover them all in war paint before moving out to the tower. A couple of hours later by mid-morning they found themselves gathered on the small platform and at the front door of the tower at the top of a 20 foot-tall flight of stone steps their steeds left at the bottom.

Grom (the shaman): “Open up wizard! We want to talk to you!” He shouted while banging his fist on the door, the others had volunteered him to be the spokesman for some reason.

Moezra (the mage of Ekit’s Watch): “What do ya want! I’m busy. GO AWAY!”

Grom: “We’re the dragon-slayers! We have come to trade wizard!”

Moezra: “Oh? You are huh? Just wait right there.”

They heard a loud mechanical click and the platform dropped out from beneath them and all but Vorwulf fell into the hole. The ranger/dragonslayer leapt away and acrobatically flipped back onto the steps avoiding a 20 ft drop to the ground. He looked up at the tower and spotted something small and winged watching from a window on the third floor. The others slid down a glass-smooth chute which shot them into a pitch black chamber each slamming into a floor of moist earth. They wasted no time in getting to their feet and lighting a lantern finding themselves trapped in an oubliette, a stone walled bottle-shaped room with a rusted trap-door sealing the top of the bottle-neck 20 ft up. They could see the opening to the chute from which they were dropped into this prison. Bers used her Cape of Bat-Flight to fly herself and Kyr back up the chute. Grom cast a spell on himself and growing wings followed. The rusted trap-door was held shut by a powerful spring mechanism and was impossible to just smash open for several reasons. They retreated back to the oubliette where Bers dropped Kyr and pulled out and slipped on her Gauntlet of Transmutation. She flew back to the iron trap door at the top of the chute but found it protected from the gauntlets power by magical wards which pulsed with energy when the gauntlet touched it. She flew back to the oubliette and in frustration she flew full speed into the wood door sealing the top of their cell smashing it to splinters.

Grom: “Into the tower it is then.”

Grom followed with Kyr in tow.

Meanwhile outside Vorwulf pulled the cowl of his Cloak of Invisibility over his head rendering him invisible to sight and slashed the air with his Silver Scimitar. The sword opened a dimensional door and he stepped through instantly emerging on the top battlements of Ekit’s Watch. When he landed on the south battlements he found that they were a level above the north battlements connected by two sets of stone-steps. Below him on the northern battlements he saw a trap door granting access to the interior of the tower and next to it in a pair of large iron cages 2 naked girls were cowering. Being the heroic type he immediately leapt to the floor below with the intent of approaching the cages but was nearly struck by a bolt of black energy which shot from a position very near the cages. He could see the shadow of a small winged creature from where the bolt had struck. He shot at the creature but missed due to it also being invisible. Suddenly with a raven-shriek the mage named Moezra shot up into the air from the trap-door. He was carried aloft by a pair of large black wings and Vorwulf could see that the mage had the head of a raven and talons in place of feet. The dragon-slayer shot him with an arrow wounding him then the mage struck back by calling forth lightning from the cloudless afternoon sky which Vor readily avoided. The dragon-slayer did an acrobatic tumble into the trap-door.

Gil (Grom’s Player): “Dude! You’re running away!?”

Cris (Vorwulf’s Player): “Hell yes! That guy’ll kill me up there!”

Vorwulf found himself on the top of a stone staircase which wound down into the third floor chamber. The octagonal chamber was large taking up the entire level of the tower. It had a 12 ft. high ceiling and had narrow columns in sets of three in front of its huge floor to ceiling lead-pane windows at the northwest, northeast, southwest and southeast walls of the chamber. The floor was tiled with marble and at the center of the floor was a 5ft high dais set with 4 gold 16-candle candelabras and an inactive magic circle inscribed deeply in its surface. Unlit torches sat in sconces in the east and west walls next to floor to ceiling length tapestries; one portraying a white dragon the other a purple one. A leather chest with no lock sat against the opposite wall from the adventurer and a pair of solid iron chests cast with lions’ feet and heads (the heads at one end) with no discernable locks sat against the west wall below the white-dragon tapestry.

Cris: “Man, I don’t like the looks of those chests.”

He ran down the steps and towards the passageway which opened in the floor to the southeast in front of one of the windows. He readied to leap into the opening which presumably led to the second level. A plate of solid steel manifested over it stopping him dead in his tracks. He turned but could see nothing but was still able to hear the rustling of feathers and the beating of Moezra’s black wings.

The battle lasted for 4 more rounds with Vorwulf and Moezra exchanging blasts of lightning and arrows, some of which were silver, most of which missed as both were invisible. The mage’s familiar the small invisible creature was slain in the beginning of the third round which suddenly appeared after the deathblow, an arrow to the chest, revealing itself to be a shadow-imp just before its corpse evaporated away into nothing. Moezra pulled out a magic dagger with a starmetal blade which darted about the room and fought on its own wounding Vorwulf significantly in the last round. At the end of the third round Vorwulf while near the iron plate over the stairs connecting this floor with next, made a successful Will save versus illusion revealing the plate to be an illusion. The mage blasted out a large window with a misplaced bolt of lightning and melted the entire staircase leading down into the chamber from the battlements when he lost control of one of his spells. The wild magic melted the stone into a large puddle of greyish goo. Moezra was killed at the beginning of the fourth round his corpse studded with 5 arrows. After the battle the room was in a shambles and its walls were studded with nearly a dozen arrows. The illusion sealing off the stairs dissipated.

Vorwulf, assuming the others were “stuck in a hole” at the base of the tower somewhere took the mage’s head with his silver scimitar and looted the feathery corpse without actually searching it. He snatched 3 rings (worth about 3 silver pieces each), the curved starmetal dagger which fell to the floor inert after the mage’s death rattle, a phenacite talisman with a starmetal inlay, an ivory wand with decorative runes, an elephant hide spellbook, and a red velvet bag with platinum embroidery portraying the silhouette of a flying raven. He found it to be a bag of holding stuffed with goodies some of which were 4 potions (all labeled), money & jewels, some lotus pollen & seeds and a rod which was made of infernal slag.

After he stowed the booty he used a magic ability on his scimitar sending a Prying Eye which emerged from the pommel stone down the stairs. The prying eye saw a shut and locked black iron door with a rune glowing white on its face at the foot of the steps with no other way to go. He then sent the eye outside and decided to rappel down using his ropes and climbing gear. After gearing up he slid down on the rope through the blasted-out window and successfully swung around to the entrance platform. There he found the front door unbarred and opened it cautiously. He was confronted with a gory sight.

As Vorwulf battled Moezra at the top of the tower the others found themselves in the entrance level after escaping the oubliette. The windowless chamber they found themselves in was dimly lit by a candelabrum at the far end by a set of steps which rose to the next floor. The high ceiling, well-above 10 ft. above their heads, disappeared into shadow. In the floor behind them at the south end of the chamber was the shattered trap-door they had broken through. Directly behind them recessed between a pair of thick round pillars was the assumed front door with a heavy wooden bar across it. The room appeared to be storeroom with another pit in the floor to the east and the curb of an open well-head to the west. Crates stood against the east wall and barrels against the west behind the well. The entire central section of the octagonal room was occupied by thick square pillars placed every 5 feet from the walls. All could see a hulking humanoid shape standing at the foot of the steps at the far side of the storeroom. They approached it aggressively until they got a clear view of it.

It was a powerfully built creature, at least 10 ft tall with a pair of twisted bull’s horns jutting from its ugly forehead and deep sunk yellow cat’s eyes. Its wide multi-fanged mouth appeared to be grinning though it was hard to tell as it lacked lips. Its feet were split hooves and a horse-like tail swished and twitched behind it. Its scabrous fingers curled into jagged yellow claws. They could easily see magical symbols and runes carved deep into its pale flesh, all wet and red but not bleeding.

Gil (Grom’s player): “Man, that’s gruesome!”

Isis (Kyr’s player): “Yeah it’s gross; let’s kill ‘em!”

Jen (Bers’ player): “Ugh! What is it? Is it attacking us?”

Cris (Vor’s player): “Probably a demon. Demons are weird things.”

They all were forced to make Courage saving throws versus Horror Factor and all 3 (Grom, Kyr and Bers) failed and suffered the effects of the Feast of Flesh spell. Small bits of flesh stripped off of their hides and were sucked into the monster even from under their armor. All three were significantly wounded by this. As the creature approached the shaman was able to negate the effects of the horror and the other two met the beast in the middle of the room. In the first round the shaman spent his time trying to cast the Mass Bull’s Strength spell but failed and Kyr activated the Shield ability on her helmet. Bers landed a power attack on the creature but her axe reflected harmlessly from its chest the ward inscribed their glowed brightly when struck. Kyr also landed two blows to Bers’ other two but each time their weapons were deflected by the runes which flashed with infernal light. The creature’s claws were meanwhile dealing significant damage and Bers could feel a sinister cold trying to take hold in her very bones.

Bers: “We’re not doing anything to it!”

Kyr: “Maybe we should hit it in the head!”

Bers: “Let’s just hit it harder!”

The demon took another power attack from Bers’ weapon, now the silver-bladed great sword that she had taken from the ruins at Black Brow (see the Dragonslayers pt. 6) after dropping her axe, the blow from which proved harmless. The creature returned her power attack with one of its own but she parried it easily and countered finding her weapon all but useless again. Kyr reactivated her helms Shield ability and the shaman while casting the Mass Bull’s Strength spell lost control and unleashed wild magic. The wild magic worked in their favors however, by doubling the effects of the spell granting them all a massive increase in raw physical strength.

Kyr: “Maybe I should use my Doom Sword! I need to use my Doom Sword; I think I’ll use my Doom Sword!”

The other 3 players in unison: “No!”

The players settled on a strategy of trying to push the monster into an oubliette or the well since they couldn’t seem to harm it. Bers tossed her sword to the ground and successfully pressed the creature towards the open mouth of the oubliette in the east part of the room but was disheartened when it moved in another direction on its turn. Kyr readied by the well-head for the creature to get near so she could try to force it into the well. The shaman successfully tripped the horned creature and it fell into the remaining barrels shattering them to bits and spattering their contents everywhere.

Grom the shaman: “Aw. That’s a waste of good ale!”

Lamp oil and fine ale splashed and flowed over the flagstone floor. After rising from the flags the creature picked up and tossed a barrel, which was full of syrup, at Bers whom dodged it. The barrel shattered leaving the west wall oozing with syrup. The third round was spent forcing the creature to the well where it simply wound up straddling the mouth with a hoof on both sides of the curb. Grom healed Bers as his first action since as Bers was badly hurt by this time and found himself forced to make 2 recovery checks in order to survive a pair of nasty and successful claw swipes. Their luck turned as at the beginning of the fourth round Bers successfully pressed the creature into the mouth of the oubliette from which they had escaped earlier after it unsuccessfully tried to push her back into the well as one of her items granted her the effects of the Might of the Mountain spell making her immovable by force. Granted the respite from battle Bers walked to the front door and after looking for traps and finding none she lifted the bar and set it aside. The shaman yelled his warning too late as a claw reached up from the open pit for the fighter’s ankles. Bers jumped back and the demon crawled from its hole.

The battle began anew. Bers failed her save versus horror and suffered more damage realizing that she was now badly injured. Grom attempted to press it back down into the pit and was successful but it used a simultaneous attack to grab him as it fell taking him with it back down into the pit. In the pit the shaman jumped to his feet from the damp earthen floor and tried to cast a spell in the pitch black of the pit and the creature broke his concentration disrupting his attempt to cast the spell with a successful claw strike. The creature climbed back out to confront Bers who had overcome her fear and attacked but got her sword slapped from her hand and after having just picked it back up! It clattered 15 ft away and she chased after it snatching it back up. Grom flew up from the hole after casting a fly spell on himself behind the monster but careful to fly to a safe height. The creature struck at him as he flew by. The sixth round commenced and all three adventurers were feeling the strain of battle. Bers struck at the beast’s head as she realized it had no runes carved into its face and was surprised that the blade finally sunk into its flesh and struck bone. Grom after pulling out his Mace of Supernatural Power flew struck the monster in the head for a second time splintering one of its horns. A black syrupy ichor leaked from the wounds and clung in heavy spidery strands to their weapons. Bers brought her sword down on the demon’s deformed skull as it tried to grab at the blade and the door opened flooding the chamber in blinding daylight. Vorwulf opened the door in time to see in full light Bers’ blade shear the monster’s skull to the shoulders splattering her, the shaman and him in stinking thick pitchy blood.

Isis (Kyr’s player): “See! I told you; hit the head!”

Jen: “Oh yeah! You did say that. Why didn’t we try that before?”

Isis: “I don’t know, somebody said no or something! I don’t remember who.”

They spent the next few minutes post battle drinking healing potions and the shaman found a sea-chest in a far corner and took what Vorwulf identified as a pair of white harpy feathers, taken from harpies native to the Icefere to the far northwest, from it.

After healing up they decide to move up through the tower in order to “clear it out” and rescue the girls that Vorwulf told them about imprisoned at the top.

 

To Be Continued…