Session 8: "Unto the Breach" Report
General Summary
After a night of rest and recovery from the devastating attack on Old Town and the Living Circle Temple during the Festival of Kites, the adventures were tasked with a quest: journey to Therari's Watch Tower and rescue the citizens who had been stolen during the previous day's attack.
Setting out, Eragon and Clementine were called away. However, the party was joined by a rogue going by the name Wayne Gibbous; and, as they made their way toward the riverside docks, also encountered Torbryn J'mon, who was able to leverage the influence of his family's trading business to secure the party a boat that could carry them across the choppy river to the outcropping of rock on which the ancient lighthouse was built.
As the party approached the looming tower, they were temporarily stymied by the both magical and physical fence that had been erected around the small island in order to keep both threats and curious thrill seekers out when the Tower was deemed unsafe and sealed away by the Knights of the Silver Moon some 30 years before. Although the party had been given a key with which to pass the fence, they had not been given instructions on how to use it. Agility, brute strength, and wits were all attempted before at last the key granted them access.
As the party arrived at the partially destroyed docks and made their way up the winding path toward the base of the Tower, they encountered skulls mounted on sticks lining both sides of the pathway - skulls which they were able to identify as having belonged to Anuar, the strange invaders that had wrecked war and ruin on the region for centuries before finally being defeated. Continuing past this grisly "welcoming committee", the party entered the gates of the Tower... and all but Nirmala managed to avoid the bolts from the trap they unwittingly set off.
Undeterred, the party began to explore. First, in the two smaller garrison towers attached to the main tower, the party found scattered pieces of monstrous skeletons; a theme which continued as they entered the ground floor of the main Tower and found what had once been a standard common/dining room irrevocably scarred by many battles, and yet more long dead and cremated skeletons of monsters, aberrations, and strange mutated creatures piled in what used to be the common room's large welcoming hearth. After taking a brief glance at the mostly destroyed kitchen attached to the side of the tower, the party decided to make their way up the stairs to see what the other levels had in store.
The second level proved to be primarily an armory and defensive position from which the garrison could target invaders laying siege to the Tower. Driven by curiosity, Valrah accidentally awoke a magically animated suit of armor, while Nirmala triggered a second. These animated armors, guardians of the Tower left behind to lay dormant and gather dust when the Tower was sealed, attacked the party. The group was able to defeat the two suits of armor, and managed to avoid waking the other two which stood in the room. Continuing their exploration - with a bit more caution - the group found that the rest of that level consisted of what had once been barracks, but were now little more than dusty, rotting furniture and a few forgotten trinkets.
The third floor contained two more barrack rooms, and while one matched the findings of the barracks on the previous floor, the other seemed mysteriously untouched by time. Rows of bunk beds and storage lockers stood just as they had when the Tower was still occupied - unbroken, untouched by rot or pillaging - however, the mattresses were all thickly stained by a heavy saturation of decades old blood. Although the party could not discern what exactly had occurred there, they were unnerved by what seemed like a curse that lay over the room - not the sort of intentionally placed arcane curse that some were familiar with, but rather a ghostly echo of a horror so terrible that it clung to and encase the entire room, a heavy sense of doom and tragedy pervading the air. They quickly, and perhaps wisely, chose to leave the room just as they found it - except for a few pennies scrounged out from under the bed.
On the fourth floor the party found a lavish bedroom - with a massive hole in the wall where the Tower itself was broken - a storage room, the remains of a workshop, and a door. The workshop and storage room contained broken pieces of alchemical equipment along with several jars containing embalmed samples of many strange creatures and body parts. The fourth room on the floor, however, remained utterly a mystery as the first, and subsequently only, adventurer to attempt to open the door found herself temporarily blinded by a magical trap. While the others investigated, Wayne caught the briefest glimpse out of the corner of his eye of what appeared to be a glowing spectral figure mounting the stairs up to the next floor above them.
Cautious but undeterred by this spooky sighting, the adventures continued upward, where on the fifth floor they found the remains of what had once been a sort of zoo. The entire floor was set up as one large room, containing several enclosures, the remains of which seemed to be recreating a variety of habitats from all over this plane of existence, and perhaps other planes as well. However, the enclosures had all been destroyed and mostly abandoned, although a few skeletal remains of their previous occupants could be found. While they party explored the destroyed zoo, they found themselves tormented by an invisible presence; the sound of rustling amongst the enclosure remains, chittering laughter, breezes of unknown origin, brief - almost imagined - glimpses of creatures hidden in the shadows, and tugging on their hair and clothes initially baffled the party. After a series of questions using trial and error and multiple languages, the party eventually figured out that they had unwittingly become entertainment for a Faerie Dragon - a cat-sized species of dragon that originated in the Feywild. Although notorious pranksters who enjoy using their innate magical abilities to trick and toy with those who wonder into their territory, Faerie Dragons are typically benign and sometimes even friendly; knowledge which Valrah was able to remember fondly and relay to the party as she and her family had previously enjoyed the company of such a creature during her youth. Although Faerie Dragons are intelligent and usually capable of speech, this one responded to the party's questions only through chirps, whistles, and whines. Though a series of questions, and a brief attempt at a sing-a-long, the party wooed the invisible faerie dragon into joining them in their explorations despite its expressed fear of whatever else lurked within the Tower.
While the Faerie Dragon showed its presence by choosing to ride along on Nirmala's head, the party continued their way upward. However, the next three floors rebuffed the party, two of them sealed by locked and magically trapped doors while the third seemed to have no door at all. Bypassing these floors, the party found themselves abruptly stumbling across the the nest of the fire snakes who had participated in the attack on the city the night before. The massive room, partially exposed to the open air by a series of archways built into the wall, contained what used to be a fountain now converted into massive bonfire around which a writhing mass of sleeping fire snakes clustered. Alarmed and - wisely- unwilling to disturb the den full of massive fiery snakes wiggling and twisting together in apparent repose, the party crept onward past the open archways toward the top of the Tower.
At last reaching the top of the Tower where, although broken and extinguished, there still resides the infamous crystal that had for so long shone brightly into the Redstone harbor to help guide ships home to dock. Placed on a massive dais at the center of the Tower floor, the massive crystal towered well above the adventurers' heads; once clear and radiating a brilliant pink light, the crystal had been cracked during the many battles that were fought over the Tower. A dull, smokey color stains the crystal where its cracked, and spreading out from the dais is a thick, clear coating of an unknown substance that although hard the party found to be treacherously smooth and slippery. Assessing the scene, the party guessed that the substance had perhaps exploded out of the crystal itself when it was broken, explaining the spread of the substance out from the dais and all the way up the crenellated walls around the edges of the rooftop space.
Although fascinated by the history of the place and the mystery of the broken crystal, the party was forced to focus back on their original task of finding the captured citizens. Concluding that they had found no sign of the prisoners - or any other inhabitants besides the fire snakes - the party determined to return to the ground level and search for any missed cellars. As they descended the Tower, the party attempted to ask the Faerie Dragon, who was still making itself comfortable in Nirmala's hair while remaining invisible, but the small dragon would only express fear and a disinterest in permanently leaving the safety of its home in the abandoned zoo.
Back on the ground level, the party revisited the partially burned and collapsed remains of the kitchen and successfully found a trap door leading down into a cellar. Although the cellar likely had originally contained a stock of food and drink for the garrison embedded at the Tower, the party found that it had been filled with a dazzling hoard of gemstones. Stones gathered into barrels, crates, and even just piled on the floor were a variety ranging from rare and precious gemstones to semi-precious crystals. Each of the party members helped themselves to a handful of stones, although Torbryn took the time to seek out some specific precious gems. At the back of the cellar, the party found a section of wall that had been broken down and lead to a narrow, twisting tunnel deep under the river itself. The party were saddened, but unsurprised, when the Faerie Dragon seemingly left their company - presumably preferring to remain among the treasure trove of gemstones rather than face whatever dangers awaited them below.
As the party journeyed down the twisting tunnel, they observed that - despite the fact that the rest of the Tower appeared to be ancient and the interior utterly untouched by anything but time for several decades - this tunnel could only be a few months old. Cut roughly first out of rock and then softer dirt, the tunnel gradually led away from the outcropping of rock on which the Tower sits and deep underneath the bed of the river itself. Finally, the tunnel opened out into a chamber which was thankfully empty except for a horrifying collection of torture implements and machines.
Beyond the torture chamber, the party found a row of cells crowded with captured civilians - more than twice in number than the party had been told were stolen during the attack the day before. In the last cell at the very end of the row the party found an emaciated man, his features obscured by his wildly unkept hair and beard, his clothes nothing but filthy rags, and his wrists restrained by thick, heavy shackles. While attempting to question the man about how he had come to be in the dungeon, who his captors where, and what they wanted - with only vague, disjointed, and mostly unhelpful success - the party was interrupted by the arrival of two Azer. Dwarf-like creatures with fiery beards and hair whose bodies radiated so much heat it was painful to even stand near them, the party quickly engaged the two Azer in battle. Just when the battle looked dire, the tides were changed by the sudden appearance of a polar bear dropping into the room seemingly out of thin air. The polar bear, ignoring the searing heat of the Azer, aided the party in the battle and the Azer were defeated.
With the civilians freed and assistance from the Living Circle Temple on the way to help get the civilians back to the mainland, the party concluded that the polar bear was, in fact, the Faerie Dragon using a polymorph spell. Despite attempts to convince the Faerie Dragon otherwise, it was unwilling to leave its Tower home. The Knight of the Silver Moon, Spinel, who had tasked the party with this quest arrived with the reinforcements from the Temple and thanked the party sincerely for their assistance. Spinel also gave the party a pointed reminder that the Tower was officially deemed unsafe and sealed off - not a place for unauthorized adventurers to explore - as she took back the key to the magical fence around the Tower and bid the party return to the city.
The Faerie Dragon, still in polar bear form, accompanied the party to the fence before bidding them a sad farewell as the group traveled back across the choppy waters of the river to whatever adventures awaited them next in the city.
Rewards Granted
Torbryn - A Rope of Climbing, a Gem of Brightness, 2 small Diamonds, a Black Opal, and a bag of mixed gems worth 150gp.
Wayne: A Feather Token (tree), Ring of Feather Fall, Ring of Protection, 5 Crossbow Bolt with a +2 enchantment, Glamoured studded leather armor, a bag of mixed gems worth 150gp.
Nimala: A Luck Stone, Pipes of Haunting, a bag of mixed gems worth 150gp.
Mallorie: An Immovable Rod, a Potion of Heroism, a Potion of Diminution, a Brooch of Shielding, a vial of poison gas, a lump of 10 copper pieces melted together, a turtle shell, a bag of mixed gems worth 150gp.
Valrah: A Feather Token (bird), a Cloak of Protection, 3 white dragon claws, a bag of mixed gems worth 150gp.
Additionally, as payment for completing this mission, each member of the party are granted the resources/connections/supplies necessary to take one feat of their choice. (There will be a 6 week gap between this session and the next session - the majority of this downtime must be spent studying/training/whatever narratively makes sense to grant the abilities in your characters chosen feat. A list of feats can be found in the Player’s Handbook and in Xanathar’s Guide; you can also google 5e feats and/or check out dndbeyond.com)
Wayne: A Feather Token (tree), Ring of Feather Fall, Ring of Protection, 5 Crossbow Bolt with a +2 enchantment, Glamoured studded leather armor, a bag of mixed gems worth 150gp.
Nimala: A Luck Stone, Pipes of Haunting, a bag of mixed gems worth 150gp.
Mallorie: An Immovable Rod, a Potion of Heroism, a Potion of Diminution, a Brooch of Shielding, a vial of poison gas, a lump of 10 copper pieces melted together, a turtle shell, a bag of mixed gems worth 150gp.
Valrah: A Feather Token (bird), a Cloak of Protection, 3 white dragon claws, a bag of mixed gems worth 150gp.
Additionally, as payment for completing this mission, each member of the party are granted the resources/connections/supplies necessary to take one feat of their choice. (There will be a 6 week gap between this session and the next session - the majority of this downtime must be spent studying/training/whatever narratively makes sense to grant the abilities in your characters chosen feat. A list of feats can be found in the Player’s Handbook and in Xanathar’s Guide; you can also google 5e feats and/or check out dndbeyond.com)
Report Date
25 Jan 2020
Primary Location
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