The Clockwork Maze

The heroes descend to Level 6, and meet the necromancer they have heard so much about, but all is not what it seems.

The party descended the stairs to Level 6 where they found themselves in a room with a black lever, a red lever, and an archway to the east. Distant ticking echoed the walls, as if they were inside a giant clock. After electing to pull the red lever, they heard the noise of gears and the rooms shifting, and the archway now led to a hallway.   At the end of the hallway was a room with a minotaur who had been augmented with clockwork parts, much like the other clockworks they had run into in previous levels. The minotaur tried to pretend to be a statue, and when they killed it, it mocked them and exclaimed that death was a relief and that his existence was suffering.   Futher explanation of the level found more clockworks, this type armed with nets they shot out of their hands. As they continued to explore, they realized that the black and red levers controlled the configuration of the level. They discovered this unfortunately when Jimmy was cut off from the rest of the group, and he nearly died fighting a powerful clockwork.   Knowing they needed to find Jimmy, the rest of the group continued on with haste, and found themselves in a room with the necromancer Zargolash, who had augmented his own body with clockwork parts. He used his magic to fill the area with a stinking cloud, and he and his clockworks attacked. The battle was hard, as he pelted the party with ice and sleet, and fireballs, making it difficult to get around. Eventually, Guiliman dealt a mighty blow with his sword, but it affected the mage little, as his skin seemed to be made of stone. The necromancer electrocutred the warrior and then began to leave, seemingly unconcerned with the party, but they gave chase, and he used a spell of fear to send Hans and Guiliman fleeing. Mongoose, knowing her sword would do little against the stone skin, called upon the power of Zoleah and fired a ray of holy energy into the necromancer, killing him.   They were able to eventually reunite with Jimmy and defeat the clockwork, but they found the necromancer's body to have vanished. They eventually found the necromancer again, sitting in his throne, and slayed him for good. Hans found his journal, learning that he was once a wizard named Zargolash, who lost an eye in a duel when another wizard pulled out a pistol and shot him, and that he became obessed with clockworks when discovering this level of The Spire, and he dreamt of conquering the region with an army of clockworks.   They located the necromancer's treasure room, as well as his jail, where they freed Salzyfe and Zundila, and found the wizard Ramud Gravedigger. They also found Jormez Kerrisk, a cleric in the service of The Wanderer who had tried to explore the spire and been taken prisoner, and they learned that the various "lucky" items they had found on the first level had belonged to him. The Undine returned to Level 5 to their spouse, and the rest of the group elected to leave The Spire, traveling to the Ironspine Village to rest up.