Topic: Session Summaries
Courtesy of further notes based on interviews with Patrick Fitzpatrick:
This installment of the story started off with a promising beginning. Patrick realized his lifelong dreams when the group discovered that the beautiful woman in the center of the lush garden was a nymph, trapped there by the tower’s most recent owner, for experimental purposes. The nymph, named "Nymph," no less, was lonely after 40 years of enforced solitude and although friendly became very agitated at the thought of the group leaving. A combination of Axel discovering that all the sylvan creatures were bound there by virtue of Byldar having taken and hidden their true names, Patrick displaying such absolute and obvious interest in Nymph that she was sure he would always come back to her, and the group agreeing to do everything it could short of harm of innocents to find the stolen names and free the beautiful creatures in the glade, meant that the group was welcomed by Nymph and the many pixies and other creatures of the glade/room.
Having been bound by a magical Geas by the Nymph, who invoked Tria's power, the group left to deal with the tower (specifically the one still unexplored tower.) After some work, and several near brushes with a sizeable lightning bolt that was the trap on the main entry door, Axel got the door to the third tower open. The group found themselves facing a slightly feminine shield guardian who informed them that the amulet bearer wasn’t on this floor and that they weren’t permitted to go further. Riley, in a stroke of genius, used a spell to disguise herself as the former owner of the tower, but this too was unsuccessful in budging the guardian. Deciding that the best way to deal with the tower in general was to get to the small structure on the top of this third tower (which Nymph had implied was the wizard’s personal quarters). Axel started off the fight by throwing a tanglefoot bag and ensnaring the creature. From that point it was all downhill. Patrick and Riley were both immobilized with twin spheres of force, and even though both adventurers had scored solid hits on the guardian, the bulk of the fighting was left to Axel and Jour. Riley and Patrick began to play cards through their respective force prisons while the other two attempted to amuse themselves. Although they were almost killed in the process, the paladin and newly initiated Shadowdancer managed to drop the construct while dodging sonic blasts and vicious attacks from the creature. Twenty minutes later the ranger and cleric were released and the group continued up the main stairs. At the top of the final flight of stairs they found a chalk circle (presumed to be a summoning diagram meant to protect the wizard’s personal quarters). Rather than risk battle in their weakened state, the group retired to Nymph’s abode and rested through the night (well some of the night in Patrick’s case). Nymph healed the party and Axel was able to discover that the water in the center of the glade came from the Elemental plane of water, the true Gate of which was said to be "somewhere underground." The group also verified with Nymph that Byldar (the previous owner of the tower) was a summoner and often made use of demons and devils.
Fortified and satisfied, the group started out the next day, prepared to fight whatever guarded the wizard’s abode.
Patrick, in an unusual moment of clarity during his drunken ramblings, makes special note during this narrative that the group took special care to prepare for the likely failure of the party rogue to be able to bypass the circle of summoning. The Halfling admitted that even with magical assistance he would be hard pressed to deal with the trap. So Riley did her best to aid the diminutive burglar, but all proved to be in vain.
Upon Axels’ failed roguish attempt at loot obtaining, a skeletal creature with a scorpion’s tail showed itself in the summoning circle. The creature was identified as a bone devil and the party found themselves facing one of the most powerful enemies they had ever had the misfortune of encountering.
Battle began as the creature blocked the way to the wizard’s quarters with a wall of magical ice and Riley attempted to send the creature back to its dimensional home. The attempt failed, and Patrick quickly found that the creature was virtually immune to his attacks. Axel and Jour however were not so hampered, and both began using spells and sneak attacks to battle the creature. Riley, fortified by several spells of her god, even tried her hand at fighting the creature.
The party soon found that the monster was almost invulnerable to all but Axels’ roguish vital strikes and Jour’s blessed weapon. Worse its tail contained a virulent poison which, if not for the blessings of the gods and a liberal dose of anti toxin might have completely incapacitated the group.
A lengthy fight followed with the devil teleporting down the stairs and blocking the group in with yet another ice wall. Axel retaliated with more tanglefoot bags, and Jour waded in to strike at the creature directly. Riley was able to blast the creature with some of her own magic, and Patrick summoned a wolf to assist in flanking the beast.
Unfortunately the devil shrugged off most of Riley’s remaining magic as well as Jour’s epic attempt to strike it down with the smiting force of his god.
Patrick was able to smash through the wall of ice blocking the wizard’s quarters, hoping that if they could find the amulet they might be able to dismiss the creature). Upon finding the door locked, he attempted to negotiate with the devil. (Anyone familiar with the ranger should understand just how desperate a situation the group was in when the headstrong and socially inept woodsman was trying to talk his way out of the fight.)
Patrick’s attempt at diplomacy failed, and to make things worse the devil summoned 10 small companions to block off the group from each other and to give the devil some breathing room. Jour and Axel had slowly been wearing the beast down and Riley’s spells and assistance had left the beast near death. The devil continued the fight by imprisoning Patrick behind yet another ice wall and using the Lemures he had summoned as a mobile wall from which to strike at the group from behind. The final blow was struck as Riley rained stunning bolts down on the creature, Jour continued to try and fight his way back to it, and Axel, hiding-in-plain-battle, tumbled behind the creature and finished it off.
Patrick was able (with the lemures now separated from him by 2 thick walls of ice) was able to pound the lock to the wizard’s quarters into oblivion. As his friends finished off the guardian, Patrick found himself looking at what he assumes is the ghost of Byldar. The image of the dead wizard is standing in a room full of arcane equipment. He says something along the lines of, "I'm surprised you got this far. Congratulations. Please, have a seat."
At the same time the devil advises the three adventurers around it that he will commend them to his superiors due to their ability to draw out the tortuous combat.
-----------------------------------
A general building exploration summary, provided partly because the GM cannot count and has been inconsistent about the number of floors on each level:
Sarothane's Tower (named for the builder) is a large complex of 3 towers: the Central Tower, where the entrance lies, is medium sized (about 40 feet across) and has 4 floors including the entrance level. The North Tower is a fatter tower, about 60 feet across, and has 3 floors. The South Tower is the thinnest tower at about 30-35 feet across, and has 4 floors plus a smaller room on top.
This is what the party has discovered so far:
Central Tower 1st/ground floor: Portcullis guarded by shield guardians; a parlor capable of defending itself; passages to North and South Towers (left locked) and stairs going up.
Central Tower 2nd floor: Alchemy and Magic Labs, also willing to defend themselves. Passages to North and South Towers (South unlocked, north locked) and stairs going up and down.
Central Tower 3rd floor: Rooms clearly intended to be Libraries; not deeply explored. Passages to the North Tower only (unlocked), stairs going up and down.
Central Tower 4th floor: 4 rooms clearly intended to house familiars. Passage leading north (locked) and stairs going up to roof. Proximity defenses enabled on said stairs.
North (fat) Tower 1st Floor: Unexplored.
North Tower 2nd Floor: Unexplored.
North Tower 3rd Floor: Nymph's glade. No stairs, just passage leading back to Central Tower 3rd Floor (the Libraries).
South (thin) Tower 1st Floor: Unexplored.
South Tower 2nd Floor: Chamber marked "Authorized Personnel and Students with Passes Only"; largely unexplored; this is where Shield Guardian was fought. Stairs lead up and down.
South Tower 3rd Floor: Largely unexplored, passed through on staircase leading up, where everyone but Patrick ended game.
South Tower 4th Floor: Wizard's Observatory. Patrick ended game here, facing the ghost.