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...
