Numerous small holes are visible at the end of the collapsed mine shaft, clearly the work of burrowing critters. Following the attackers into their natural habitat, however, is a risky proposition...
Session 12: Into the Labyrinth
Numerous small holes are visible at the end of the collapsed mine shaft, clearly the work of burrowing critters. Following the attackers into their natural habitat, however, is a risky proposition...
Pressing Problem in Poisson
The Nerathian Temple
Those were terrible moments, huddled at the foot of the stairs that gave access to the Temple, spiders and hungry beetles blocking our way forward, the angry wyrmlings preventing a retreat.
With the booming thunder of the drakes' lightning shocks resonating in our ears, we used several flasks of oil to defend ourselves from the incoming beetle swarms and Adolfiel vented her fury on the critters, preventing them from becoming a serious menace.
Once we had rested some minutes, I had enough time to create a Tenser's Floating Disk and we carefully placed the body of our sister on top of it. As we still could hear the screeches of the dragons, we decided to explore the ruins. They seemed to be an ancient Nerathian temple, part of which had collapsed, probably due to an old landslide. The place was infested with insects, and several scary centipede-looking bugs attacked us appearing from tunnels they had burrowed through the walls and floor of the collapsing temple. We killed several before the rest decided to flee to their warrens.
In the temple we found an old altar with an indentation, some Nerathian tablets, a magical orb -which we placed in the middle of the altar, following the instructions of the tablets, but with no apparent results- and several other minor objects.
Scientific Notes
Today I have time to do some sketches - I am using a new book, as the original one I left at Ioun's chapel in Marshport to be copied there by a priestess-. Here you can see the horrible crocodiles that devoured poor Streisan and the centipede-looking creatures that attacked us in the temple. I have decided to name this new crocodile species Streisanorum Bocatae, in honor of my decesaed sister.
The Long Road to Poisson
The following day we left the ruins. It was a beautiful sunny day, and I could not avoid remembering when we three used to play near Leavendale's river and how I taunted Streisan and told her she could not run faster than her shadow and I could -of course using magic, but she was too young to know back then.
We followed the road, which at times could not even be called a path. Slowly, the ground became drier, and the swamp gave way to a beautiful forest where we found a nice tree to bury Streisan. We were preparing the digging tools when a screech alerted us to the presence of one of the blue wyrmlings that had attacked us the day before. I focused all my anger on the creature and she felt semiunconscious to the ground, where we quickly surrounded and almost killed it, but dragons, even young ones, are full of cunning and surprises, and this one survived our flurry of blows and, seeing itself in peril, decided to retreat to her lair to lick her wounds, even though Vistra, for a short time, was able to ground her again.
So we buried Streisan with her spear, and sent her body to the Circle, so that her soul can enter again the Wheel of Life, and with a final tear we said goodbye to her recklessness and to her playfulness, to her naivety and to her good and loving heart.
A few hours later we left the forest and reached a lonely hut, surrounded by a beautiful garden. We knocked the door and a halfling woman greeted us with good manners. She told us her husband was a lumberjack and that we could not stay at her place, as there was not enough place for a group of big adventurers, but we could sleep near her hut if we wanted. She invited us to tea and asked, as a favor, if we could repair the roof of her hut. While Adolfiel and I worked on the roof, Tyrion and Vistra shared a cup of tea with the halfling.
From time to time we heard flapping noises and saw big bats hiding in the shadows, but the woman assured us they were harmless. She also told us that Poisson was only half a day to the north, and that most of its inhabitants were working in the construction of the tower of some crazy wizard.
After the nice conversation, we made camp near the hut... We were awakened by some loud noises... the halfling woman was a horrible disfigured Hag! She had poisoned the tea, and even with the loud noise Tyrion was still snoring. Thankfully, Vistra's dwarven constitution allowed her to resist the effects of the poison and she had alerted us.
The battle was fierce. Every time any of us left the area illuminated by the campfire, she was attacked by the bats, so we tried to stay in the light, but there we heard the insidious thoughts the Hag tried to plant in our brains, and they provoked an agonising pain. It was a miracle that we survived, but we fought with all our resources and with a final push from Vistra, the Hag fell in the camp's fire, where she burnt like a dry husk, her horrible screams resounding in the darkness of the forest.
Pressing Problem in Poisson
After the attack of the Hag, the night passed uneventfully and we prepared for the final leg of our journey. After half a day of swift march, we started seeing some farms, all of them showed signs of being slightly unattended. We asked the occupants of a couple farms, and we learnt that they were inhabited by Halfling women, and that the men were "having fun" in Poisson, helping in the construction of a tower. All Halfling women wore expensive golden jewelry... it seemed the owner of the tower, someone they called Sionas, was a good employer.
We arrived at the main square of the village at dusk. The only inn of Poisson was surrounded by a multitude of tents, and several dozen Halflings were busy in and around the inn, spending their money in getting drunk as fast as their little mouths allowed them to.
The prices at the inn were outrageous and we couldn't even get a real bed, but we were tired of eating rations for three full days in a row, so we accepted the offer of the owner, a busy Halfling called Samner, and took our first nice warm dinner of the trip. I tried to earn some money for the group using my magical skills, but I was too tired to focus and I did not get much money out of the drunken Halfling builders.
We also asked for directions to Mandin's home, and everybody told us he lived at the construction site. We also learnt that the workers had been mainly digging what would become the cellars of Sionas' tower.
We were thinking about retreating to our tents, when a scared Halfling rushed into the inn calling for a cleric. The Halfling priest -probably these little creatures honour a Barrel of Ale above all- had prayed too much and seemed too tired after honouring the Barrel for what looked like hours, judging by his drunken stupor, so Vistra offered herself for help. The Halfling did not seem very convinced, but he had no other choice, so he finally told us that there had been a cave in at the construction site and Sionas needed help to rescue the workers. We all rushed to the Tower - a three mile trek-, following the Halfling, who was riding a pony, as fast as we could.
At the entrance to the tower we were met by Sionas. He was an extremely stern-looking eladrin. He told us that there had been a cave in while expanding the cellars of the tower and that he needed help with the wounded and with the removing of rubble. We followed him into what seemed like a constructed mine shaft, leaving behind some kind of elevator and descending into the depths following a long flight of stairs.
The end of the shaft had collapsed and we saw some people already working removing rubble. When we approached to help the workers, we were amazed when we got closer to them... They were some of the elves that had been taken prisoner in Leavendale! They seemed well-fed, but our surprise turned swiftly to anger when we heard their story...
Apparently, the captain of the ships that assaulted our village was a hobgoblin brute called Szakim, and he had sold the strongest elven prisoners to Sionas to work in the digging as slaves. They had not been tortured, but forcing an Elf to dig without seeing the sun and feeling the wind in the leaves of her forest can be considered a sort of torture. I confronted Mandin, who was the construction chief with the information, and he seemed to be ashamed of the events, but told us that removing the rubble and rescuing the wounded was of utmost importance now. Mandin also warned me not to use magic, as he feared that could have been the cause of the collapse.
While we worked helping our fellow Elven citizens, Sionas came from time to time to check the progress. He seemed genuinely concerned, so I tried to resist the urge of insulting him for his part in the enslavement of the Elves.
Soon, we started finding bodies. The first one we found was still alive, but his legs had been chewed off from knee down! There seemed to be more to the situation than the collapse, and our suspicions were confirmed when all the other bodies we found had similar marks of having been bitten by critters.
I spoke with Sionas, told him that the tunnels were obviously compromised and that he would need someone to clean the infestation before he could proceed with the construction works. In exchange for the job, I asked him to at least release the Elven prisoners, and he agreed with my demands, with the condition that we did not use magic while in the caverns.
One of the Elves said he would join us. We gave him some of the equipment we had found in the Nerathian temple, and we prepared ourselves to enter the dark and dangerous tunnels...
Session 11: Out of the Woods?
Though overcome with grief over Streisan's demise, the survivors march on through the forest toward Poisson, unaware that Fate has a surprise in store for them...
Farewell
After the fight with the elves, I had decided not to continue writing this diary. I was enjoying life, together with my two sisters, facing and defeating the world in its own terrain; it did not matter if it was an ice elemental, a clever gnome or a wild bear: we always prevailed... or I thought. Today life has hit us with all its cruelty and we have not managed to avoid the blow.
The day was evolving as usual: we were marching along the way from Marshport to Poisson, when we reached a damaged bridge. The bridge was broken in the center, having quite a large gap between its two remaining parts. While we were deciding how to cross the river, Streisan realized that the gap was not very long and simply jumped to the other side... when she realized that she was not there alone: a group of huge crocodriles were guarding the bridge and attacked her as soon as she crossed to the other bank. At that moment it was impossible for us to cross, so she decided to attract the attention of the beasts and run as fast as she could away from the river, thus letting us the space we needed to cross.
However, the coward crocodriles surrounded her. She fought bravely against the creatures while the cavalry was crossing safely the river... but this bite was more than she could chew. Before we could get to her, the damned crocodiles had bitten her leg and managed to make her fall. Once she was on the floor, they went on biting until they took her last bit of life out of her. Thanks to her we could get rid of the animals, but the price we had to pay was too high.
Now I'm writing these lines by my sister's corpse. It's strange: if I did not know what has happened today, I would say she is there resting, that she had being hunting and that the blood covering her arms and legs is not hers, but a bear's. Her face is calm and relaxed, because she knows she has served Corellon well. I am going to miss her.
The day was evolving as usual: we were marching along the way from Marshport to Poisson, when we reached a damaged bridge. The bridge was broken in the center, having quite a large gap between its two remaining parts. While we were deciding how to cross the river, Streisan realized that the gap was not very long and simply jumped to the other side... when she realized that she was not there alone: a group of huge crocodriles were guarding the bridge and attacked her as soon as she crossed to the other bank. At that moment it was impossible for us to cross, so she decided to attract the attention of the beasts and run as fast as she could away from the river, thus letting us the space we needed to cross.
However, the coward crocodriles surrounded her. She fought bravely against the creatures while the cavalry was crossing safely the river... but this bite was more than she could chew. Before we could get to her, the damned crocodiles had bitten her leg and managed to make her fall. Once she was on the floor, they went on biting until they took her last bit of life out of her. Thanks to her we could get rid of the animals, but the price we had to pay was too high.
Now I'm writing these lines by my sister's corpse. It's strange: if I did not know what has happened today, I would say she is there resting, that she had being hunting and that the blood covering her arms and legs is not hers, but a bear's. Her face is calm and relaxed, because she knows she has served Corellon well. I am going to miss her.
Elven Lament
Today has been the saddest day of my life, and weeks will pass until I am able to smile again at the sun... Streisan is dead! and life will never be the same.
As expected, the marshes between Marshport and Poisson were a foul place, full of mosquitoes and dangerous wild animals. The so-called road was a path overgrown with brambles and advancing was treacherous and tiring. The bridge was indeed broken, and the river was full of nasty-looking reptile creatures. I was preparing to create a Tenser's Floating Disk when I heard a loud crash. Streisan, in her recklessness, had not waited to carry out the discussed plan and had leapt a full 20 feet to the other side of the bridge. There she landed on a weakened section wich cracked, leaving her legs dangling dangerously close to the gigantic crocodile's maws. The creatures got into a frenzy at the sight and smell of such a tasty morsel and started to jump frantically trying to close her jaws around Streisan's legs.
She was able to get out of the crashed section into a kind of platform from which she would have been able to defend herself from the crocodiles while the rest of us crossed the river -she had a rope with her and Tyrion was tying it to our side of the bridge-, but she somehow got again in reckless-mode and charged wildly into the jungle, out of our reach and sight, the crocs following her in a feeding frenzy.
We crossed the river as quick as we could, but by the time we arrived we could only stop the crocs from devouring her completely. As the last of us were crossing the river, we were attacked by two blue wyrmlings. Luckily for us, there was a nearby ruined temple which entrance was blocked by a cracked stone slab. While Adolfiel and I maintained the dragons at bay, Tyrion and Vistra broke the sealing slab with the picks we had judiciously stored in our Bag of Holding.
Dragging the mangled body of our sister behind us, we could barely escape the lightning bolts of the dragons entering the dark ancient temple...
Time for a song to say farewell to Streisan, the "Friends Farewell":
As expected, the marshes between Marshport and Poisson were a foul place, full of mosquitoes and dangerous wild animals. The so-called road was a path overgrown with brambles and advancing was treacherous and tiring. The bridge was indeed broken, and the river was full of nasty-looking reptile creatures. I was preparing to create a Tenser's Floating Disk when I heard a loud crash. Streisan, in her recklessness, had not waited to carry out the discussed plan and had leapt a full 20 feet to the other side of the bridge. There she landed on a weakened section wich cracked, leaving her legs dangling dangerously close to the gigantic crocodile's maws. The creatures got into a frenzy at the sight and smell of such a tasty morsel and started to jump frantically trying to close her jaws around Streisan's legs.
She was able to get out of the crashed section into a kind of platform from which she would have been able to defend herself from the crocodiles while the rest of us crossed the river -she had a rope with her and Tyrion was tying it to our side of the bridge-, but she somehow got again in reckless-mode and charged wildly into the jungle, out of our reach and sight, the crocs following her in a feeding frenzy.
We crossed the river as quick as we could, but by the time we arrived we could only stop the crocs from devouring her completely. As the last of us were crossing the river, we were attacked by two blue wyrmlings. Luckily for us, there was a nearby ruined temple which entrance was blocked by a cracked stone slab. While Adolfiel and I maintained the dragons at bay, Tyrion and Vistra broke the sealing slab with the picks we had judiciously stored in our Bag of Holding.
Dragging the mangled body of our sister behind us, we could barely escape the lightning bolts of the dragons entering the dark ancient temple...
Time for a song to say farewell to Streisan, the "Friends Farewell":
"Aeons passed since our essence
from the Maelstrom of Chaos was fished
and in the beautiful Wheel of Living
we were allowed to roam free.
Our threads entwined for a long time
and so many moving moments we lived
now you wander the forest no longer
and the Feywild your home is to be.
Will you cross again the waters?
Will you again in the Circle live?
I hope I'll recognise your likeness
when the Wheel's next turn makes us meet."
from the Maelstrom of Chaos was fished
and in the beautiful Wheel of Living
we were allowed to roam free.
Our threads entwined for a long time
and so many moving moments we lived
now you wander the forest no longer
and the Feywild your home is to be.
Will you cross again the waters?
Will you again in the Circle live?
I hope I'll recognise your likeness
when the Wheel's next turn makes us meet."
Session 10: The Broken Bridge
Tragedy strikes as the group traverses the dangerous swamps between Marshport and the Hidden Coast...
Escaping winter
After several cold and damp nights, it was great to sleep in an enclosed area, with a nice chimney fire at our sides.
We all woke up with lots of energy and set immediately to search the tower. We realised that most of the ice encasing the building had melted away; we also found reasonable answers to some of the questions from previous days:
1- We found the portal on the tower's roof led to the mountain range near Wyllea. Obviously, Draigdurroch was obtaining his supplies through the portal, and that included wyllflower. Was he using the flower to power any mystical ritual or was he addicted to the substance?
2- The strange-looking crystals embedded in the tower's walls were spying glasses. Once the ice encasing the tower melted, we could use the crystals to survey the region surrounding the tower. It is such a good idea that I have made some notes, and I will try to use the same devices if I am ever able to buid a tower for myself.
3- Double doors in the ground floor led to a natural cavern with many passages going out of it. In the middle of the cavern there was a table with some maps. The maps detailed some of the passages, other passages were unexplored. It seemed obvious that Draigdurroch had been exploring the caves, and that they somehow led to what he thought could be Karse. I stored the maps in the Bag of Holding and made a mental note to do some research when back at Marshport.
As there was nothing more to discover in the tower and we did not want to explore the cavern maze, we left the tower -we closed the door and I used the Magic Mouth ritual to leave a joke-message behind: "Beware! This tower is now the property of the Four Queens and the Joker!".
In our trip back to Marshport we searched again the Goblin lair. There we met some bears rummaging through the food cases, and Streisan quickly charged them, without giving time to Adolfiel or me to try to calm the bears first -sometimes she is clearly too reckless- so the bears had no choice but to attack us and we had to kill two of them and force the rest of the family to flee.
We also met Aygon, but he did not know anything of interest about Draigdurroch.
Back at Marshport, we had to wait some days for the Mayor to receive us, so I used the time to keep on reading the books Aygon had lent me and doing some research on Karsus. In Marshport's library I found a book marked by some scribbled notes with what seemed to be Draigdurroch's handwriting. Apparently, Karsus was a very powerful mage or demigod that tried to become a god. In the process, the gods punished him for his vanity and destroyed his city, Karse. Reputedly, the city was full of wonders and Karsus' notes on his research to become a god would be priceless to anyone that could find them.
The Mayor of Marshport paid us very well when we told them that we had taken care of the Goblin menace, defeating some of the critters and making the rest scatter and flee the area. Then we told him we wanted to travel to Poisson and asked him if the city needed any adventuring work to be done in that area, but there seemed to be none.
We then asked for directions and learnt that there were two roads to Poisson. The most direct route crossed a river, but it was not maintained and nobody knew whether the bridge would be intact. The other longer route crossed some hills and would add one day to our trip. We decided to try the shorter route first, and discussed a plan to cross the river using Tenser's Floating Disk if necessary.
Finally, as it was Streisan's nameday, Adolfiel and I decided to buy her a gift. Adolfiel found a pair of boots that would be perfect for her, and we passed a nice evening, joking and carousing, oblivious to the darker days that awaited us...
We all woke up with lots of energy and set immediately to search the tower. We realised that most of the ice encasing the building had melted away; we also found reasonable answers to some of the questions from previous days:
1- We found the portal on the tower's roof led to the mountain range near Wyllea. Obviously, Draigdurroch was obtaining his supplies through the portal, and that included wyllflower. Was he using the flower to power any mystical ritual or was he addicted to the substance?
2- The strange-looking crystals embedded in the tower's walls were spying glasses. Once the ice encasing the tower melted, we could use the crystals to survey the region surrounding the tower. It is such a good idea that I have made some notes, and I will try to use the same devices if I am ever able to buid a tower for myself.
3- Double doors in the ground floor led to a natural cavern with many passages going out of it. In the middle of the cavern there was a table with some maps. The maps detailed some of the passages, other passages were unexplored. It seemed obvious that Draigdurroch had been exploring the caves, and that they somehow led to what he thought could be Karse. I stored the maps in the Bag of Holding and made a mental note to do some research when back at Marshport.
As there was nothing more to discover in the tower and we did not want to explore the cavern maze, we left the tower -we closed the door and I used the Magic Mouth ritual to leave a joke-message behind: "Beware! This tower is now the property of the Four Queens and the Joker!".
In our trip back to Marshport we searched again the Goblin lair. There we met some bears rummaging through the food cases, and Streisan quickly charged them, without giving time to Adolfiel or me to try to calm the bears first -sometimes she is clearly too reckless- so the bears had no choice but to attack us and we had to kill two of them and force the rest of the family to flee.
We also met Aygon, but he did not know anything of interest about Draigdurroch.
Back at Marshport, we had to wait some days for the Mayor to receive us, so I used the time to keep on reading the books Aygon had lent me and doing some research on Karsus. In Marshport's library I found a book marked by some scribbled notes with what seemed to be Draigdurroch's handwriting. Apparently, Karsus was a very powerful mage or demigod that tried to become a god. In the process, the gods punished him for his vanity and destroyed his city, Karse. Reputedly, the city was full of wonders and Karsus' notes on his research to become a god would be priceless to anyone that could find them.
The Mayor of Marshport paid us very well when we told them that we had taken care of the Goblin menace, defeating some of the critters and making the rest scatter and flee the area. Then we told him we wanted to travel to Poisson and asked him if the city needed any adventuring work to be done in that area, but there seemed to be none.
We then asked for directions and learnt that there were two roads to Poisson. The most direct route crossed a river, but it was not maintained and nobody knew whether the bridge would be intact. The other longer route crossed some hills and would add one day to our trip. We decided to try the shorter route first, and discussed a plan to cross the river using Tenser's Floating Disk if necessary.
Finally, as it was Streisan's nameday, Adolfiel and I decided to buy her a gift. Adolfiel found a pair of boots that would be perfect for her, and we passed a nice evening, joking and carousing, oblivious to the darker days that awaited us...
Session 9: The Clan of the Cave Bear
Having uncovered the secrets of Draigdurroch's frozen tower, and no longer subjected to the fearsome blizzard, the party travels back West...
Draigdurroch's Folly
Inside the tower, the cold was bearable and it was immediately obvious that it was abandoned and that it had been the residence of a wizard. As the source of the cold seemed to be in the roof of the tower, we decided to go to the top of the tower first.
Most rooms of the tower had no clue or interesting hint for us, but in one room of the tower we found the corpse of a Halfling dressed with peasant robes, and in another, that seemed to have served as a library we found a lot of information.
Apparently, the owner of the tower was a Dwarven wizard called Draigdurroch. He had been researching an entity called Karsus and searching for the ruins of a city called Karse. According to his frozen notes, the entrance to Karse could be found in a cavern complex below his tower, but it was a maddeningly complex maze and he had been painstakingly mapping the corridors and tunnels of the caverns for some time.
In his notes I also read that some faeries had warned Draigdurroch and threatened him with retaliation if he did not stopped his studies, but he had disregarded their warnings and attacked the faeries... judging the situation of the tower it had turned to be a bad choice.
I also found an interesting Red Book that seemed magically trapped and an amulet engraved with Draigdurroch's name. The amulet allowed me to control a magical floating disk that gave access to the tower's roof from a room with walls studded with strange-looking crystals.
As we arrived on the roof, we saw it was covered by an ice dome. The cold and ice seemed to emanate from a huge crystal embedded in the dome. There was also a chest from which open lid creatures of ice started emanating and charging at us. I had been waiting for this all day; my hands moved deftly and a sphere of fire materialized on top of the portal and started melting all the ice elementals entering through it.
At that moment, a gigantic creature of ice detached itself from the dome and fell in the middle of the group. The monster rushed towards Tyrion and grabbed him with its powerful ice fists and approached the chimney shaft of the tower's roof with evil intention in his eyes. Tyrion's eyes searched in full panick for an escape and a strange smile crossed his lips when he saw Streisan charging to the rescue... zup! and in the blink of an eye Tyrion was charging towards the monster while Streisan tumbled down the shaft, letting out a swear each time her head banged a brick.
The ice creature then went for Adolfiel, tired of being peppered by her arrows, and though Adolfiel managed to avoid it a couple times, he was finally grabbed ... and another of the sisters went down the chimney. More or less at that time Streisan appeared back at the roof, her head covered in blood, yelling with all the force of her mighty lungs, and foaming through her mouth -she looked like Bonpapá, a legendary Elvish character that leaves gifts to children in winter, usually climbing in and out of the houses through the chimney.
Already weakened by our attack and surprised to see that Streisan had survived her descent down the chimney shaft, the creature jumped out of the tower and lost itself in the wilderness.
We then quickly destroyed the crystal in the dome, then the deathly cold seemed to subside enough to make it bearable and no more ice creatures emerged from the portal. A short investigation showed that the chest had also some wylflower residue in it, near where the portal spiraled.
Anyway, we were too tired to think about all the mysteries the tower still contained, so we went to the tower's ground floor, made a big fire in a chimney and immediately fell asleep. I took the first guard turn, so that I could finish this chapter of the diary and think on ways to repay Tyrion's dastardly move... uuum, the wylflower offers a lot of possibilities... time for him to see the beauty of the elven body again...
Most rooms of the tower had no clue or interesting hint for us, but in one room of the tower we found the corpse of a Halfling dressed with peasant robes, and in another, that seemed to have served as a library we found a lot of information.
Apparently, the owner of the tower was a Dwarven wizard called Draigdurroch. He had been researching an entity called Karsus and searching for the ruins of a city called Karse. According to his frozen notes, the entrance to Karse could be found in a cavern complex below his tower, but it was a maddeningly complex maze and he had been painstakingly mapping the corridors and tunnels of the caverns for some time.
In his notes I also read that some faeries had warned Draigdurroch and threatened him with retaliation if he did not stopped his studies, but he had disregarded their warnings and attacked the faeries... judging the situation of the tower it had turned to be a bad choice.
I also found an interesting Red Book that seemed magically trapped and an amulet engraved with Draigdurroch's name. The amulet allowed me to control a magical floating disk that gave access to the tower's roof from a room with walls studded with strange-looking crystals.
As we arrived on the roof, we saw it was covered by an ice dome. The cold and ice seemed to emanate from a huge crystal embedded in the dome. There was also a chest from which open lid creatures of ice started emanating and charging at us. I had been waiting for this all day; my hands moved deftly and a sphere of fire materialized on top of the portal and started melting all the ice elementals entering through it.
At that moment, a gigantic creature of ice detached itself from the dome and fell in the middle of the group. The monster rushed towards Tyrion and grabbed him with its powerful ice fists and approached the chimney shaft of the tower's roof with evil intention in his eyes. Tyrion's eyes searched in full panick for an escape and a strange smile crossed his lips when he saw Streisan charging to the rescue... zup! and in the blink of an eye Tyrion was charging towards the monster while Streisan tumbled down the shaft, letting out a swear each time her head banged a brick.
The ice creature then went for Adolfiel, tired of being peppered by her arrows, and though Adolfiel managed to avoid it a couple times, he was finally grabbed ... and another of the sisters went down the chimney. More or less at that time Streisan appeared back at the roof, her head covered in blood, yelling with all the force of her mighty lungs, and foaming through her mouth -she looked like Bonpapá, a legendary Elvish character that leaves gifts to children in winter, usually climbing in and out of the houses through the chimney.
Already weakened by our attack and surprised to see that Streisan had survived her descent down the chimney shaft, the creature jumped out of the tower and lost itself in the wilderness.
We then quickly destroyed the crystal in the dome, then the deathly cold seemed to subside enough to make it bearable and no more ice creatures emerged from the portal. A short investigation showed that the chest had also some wylflower residue in it, near where the portal spiraled.
Anyway, we were too tired to think about all the mysteries the tower still contained, so we went to the tower's ground floor, made a big fire in a chimney and immediately fell asleep. I took the first guard turn, so that I could finish this chapter of the diary and think on ways to repay Tyrion's dastardly move... uuum, the wylflower offers a lot of possibilities... time for him to see the beauty of the elven body again...
In deep cold
The information that the gnome gave us led us to a barren part of the mountains. The cold weather and the snow started to become so dangerous that it became impossible to rest properly outside. Luckily, it did not take long before we found the origin of this evil and unnatural weather.
The wizard's tower was covered with ice as if a giant cascade had fallen on it before freezing. It seemed lifeless, but very soon we discovered that some evil ice creatures were guarding its entrance. They proved to be very difficult to defeat and I would have been in serious trouble (even more serious that usual, I mean) if Vistra had not helped me with her healing powers.
After accessing the entrance hall, we decided to explore the tower itself before further investigating the tunnels beneath it. The source of the cold seemed to come from the top of the tower, so it seem obvious to go straight up.
The tower was empty except for the lifeless body of a halfling, but we found a lot of information about a wizard that lived here and was doing some kind of evil investigation. In his logs he talked about getting supply of something to continues his investigation.
As we went up to the tower's roof, we finally found the source of the cold.
It was a big cristal encased in a dome of ice above the tower. Inside the dome there was a chest with a portal to somewhere horrible and a frozen monster. As soon as we got up on the roof, evil ice beings tried to attack us coming through the portal. They were pretty weak but they were many and they kept us busy until Sariel used one of her best tricks to block the portal. Unfortunately, by the time we realized that the portal was blocked, a new, BIG monster had had time to detach itself from the ice dome.
It looked like a giant frozen scorpion with lots of tentacles and spikes and ugly parts everywhere. It occupied most of the dome as it stood on the center of the tower's roof, perched on the chimney. We did not have a lot of space to manouver and its tentacles were very long.
Although the monster was very powerful, it became obsessed with killing Tyrion and that way we could prevent it from attacking my sister or the cleric, so the combat was going pretty well for us.
However our luck did not last long and the monster finally was able to grab Tyrion with two of its tentacles and lifted him into the air.
It was at that moment that Tyrion decided to use his famous and very appreciated teleporting ability. He had used it before to help others, and we all respected him for it. He had helped an elven mother and his baby during the attack on our village and he had freed Vistra from a giant spider's web. Every time before, he had teleported someone out of harm's way to put himself in danger instead.
This time, he teleported out of the ice monster's grip. It worked wonderfully, with only a small detail to regret.
By teleporting himself to safety, that cowardly sack of monkey dung teleported me into the ice monster's grab in his place.
The monster looked surprised for a second and then happily went on hitting me instead. When it realized I was too tough for it to kill swiftly, it simply rose me up on its tentacles and threw me down the chimney.
I fell three floors down to the kitchen, insulting Tyrion during the fall.
I could have taken a lot of damage, but my sister Sariel used another nice spell and I could start running up the tower without even a scratch.
It took me forever to climb back to the tower's roof, I had to climb threee floors and use a really slow magic elevator. However, I still had not finished insulting Tyrion when I stepped back into the roof.
The monster was almost dead by then, but it had managed to throw my sister Adolfiel the same way than me, down the chimney. When it saw me coming back to the fight, it grew afraid and ran away melting back into the ice dome.
As we stood there catching our breath, we realized that the cold coming from the crystal was so intense we could not resist it and would end up killing us. After trying to study it's properties, we saw it had been manipulated to alter it's powers and decided we could not control it, so we destroyed it.
The cold stopped being so dangerous so we had the time to think about the portal. It had not closed, but the evil beings did stop trying to come through.
We investigated a little more and found some Wyllflower near the portal, I think it is this stuff that was being supplied to the wizard. But why, I have no idea. So we just left the portal there, inside the chest, open to somewhere very cold and probably dangerous.
When we came down the tower, we were spent. Adolfiel had almost died with the combat and the fall. I also was so tired and so worried about Adolfiel that I decided to let Tyrion live another day and kill him the next morning.
A lot of questions remain open to me, as I go to sleep:
- What is the Wyllflower doing here?
- Where does the portal go to?
- What happened to the wizard?
- What are we looking for in the caves?
- Who manipulated the cristal?
- What is the frozen monster in the roof?
- What are the jewels in the walls of the corridors of tower?
- Where is Vistra going to find a new bodyguard?
The wizard's tower was covered with ice as if a giant cascade had fallen on it before freezing. It seemed lifeless, but very soon we discovered that some evil ice creatures were guarding its entrance. They proved to be very difficult to defeat and I would have been in serious trouble (even more serious that usual, I mean) if Vistra had not helped me with her healing powers.
After accessing the entrance hall, we decided to explore the tower itself before further investigating the tunnels beneath it. The source of the cold seemed to come from the top of the tower, so it seem obvious to go straight up.
The tower was empty except for the lifeless body of a halfling, but we found a lot of information about a wizard that lived here and was doing some kind of evil investigation. In his logs he talked about getting supply of something to continues his investigation.
As we went up to the tower's roof, we finally found the source of the cold.
It was a big cristal encased in a dome of ice above the tower. Inside the dome there was a chest with a portal to somewhere horrible and a frozen monster. As soon as we got up on the roof, evil ice beings tried to attack us coming through the portal. They were pretty weak but they were many and they kept us busy until Sariel used one of her best tricks to block the portal. Unfortunately, by the time we realized that the portal was blocked, a new, BIG monster had had time to detach itself from the ice dome.
It looked like a giant frozen scorpion with lots of tentacles and spikes and ugly parts everywhere. It occupied most of the dome as it stood on the center of the tower's roof, perched on the chimney. We did not have a lot of space to manouver and its tentacles were very long.
Although the monster was very powerful, it became obsessed with killing Tyrion and that way we could prevent it from attacking my sister or the cleric, so the combat was going pretty well for us.
However our luck did not last long and the monster finally was able to grab Tyrion with two of its tentacles and lifted him into the air.
It was at that moment that Tyrion decided to use his famous and very appreciated teleporting ability. He had used it before to help others, and we all respected him for it. He had helped an elven mother and his baby during the attack on our village and he had freed Vistra from a giant spider's web. Every time before, he had teleported someone out of harm's way to put himself in danger instead.
This time, he teleported out of the ice monster's grip. It worked wonderfully, with only a small detail to regret.
By teleporting himself to safety, that cowardly sack of monkey dung teleported me into the ice monster's grab in his place.
The monster looked surprised for a second and then happily went on hitting me instead. When it realized I was too tough for it to kill swiftly, it simply rose me up on its tentacles and threw me down the chimney.
I fell three floors down to the kitchen, insulting Tyrion during the fall.
I could have taken a lot of damage, but my sister Sariel used another nice spell and I could start running up the tower without even a scratch.
It took me forever to climb back to the tower's roof, I had to climb threee floors and use a really slow magic elevator. However, I still had not finished insulting Tyrion when I stepped back into the roof.
The monster was almost dead by then, but it had managed to throw my sister Adolfiel the same way than me, down the chimney. When it saw me coming back to the fight, it grew afraid and ran away melting back into the ice dome.
As we stood there catching our breath, we realized that the cold coming from the crystal was so intense we could not resist it and would end up killing us. After trying to study it's properties, we saw it had been manipulated to alter it's powers and decided we could not control it, so we destroyed it.
The cold stopped being so dangerous so we had the time to think about the portal. It had not closed, but the evil beings did stop trying to come through.
We investigated a little more and found some Wyllflower near the portal, I think it is this stuff that was being supplied to the wizard. But why, I have no idea. So we just left the portal there, inside the chest, open to somewhere very cold and probably dangerous.
When we came down the tower, we were spent. Adolfiel had almost died with the combat and the fall. I also was so tired and so worried about Adolfiel that I decided to let Tyrion live another day and kill him the next morning.
A lot of questions remain open to me, as I go to sleep:
- What is the Wyllflower doing here?
- Where does the portal go to?
- What happened to the wizard?
- What are we looking for in the caves?
- Who manipulated the cristal?
- What is the frozen monster in the roof?
- What are the jewels in the walls of the corridors of tower?
- Where is Vistra going to find a new bodyguard?
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