The Tower

March 25, 2008

The group keeps going deeper into the woods.  Again, Deuce and Nail are flying to scout ahead and Notch is running in the trees.  Nail lands, though, as they only need one flyer, "when it was unique and not being copied."  So, he walks with Jaden and Finn.  The woods were getting thicker and heavier for several hours but then started to thin again.  Soon, Jaden could feel something wrong about the area.  Most places have a magic but he could feel something twisted and evil.  Deuce went to check it out and saw the tower was only five hundred yards from them.  He also confirmed that the trees started dying as well as thinning out before leaving a clearing for the tower. 

The skeletons of living trees loomed over the group and caused a silence.  The group knew they were being watched, or that a precense felt them, but could not see anything.  They could see through the trees and saw that the tower was once part of a bigger structure.  As they got closer, there were partial walls still standing.  When they were still a hundred yards from the tower, still in the skeletal trees, the undead wolves appeared.  These wolves were emanciated to the point of seeing their ribs.  In a few of them, it was literal.  Most were missing flesh around their heads but many had legs that were only bones holding them up.  They growled but did not breath.  They kept their distance, though, not attacking.  The party kept going, keeping a watch on them. 

As they approached the ruins, the group saw the movement and again readied themselves.  They saw skeletons moving among the ruins but they also did not attack.  They just stood there and watched.  A few times, some skeletons moved to have a better vantage point but most stood silent, slightly moving their heads to follow the group.  They look to the top of the tower and see another skeleton looking at them.  However, this one's eyes burns red as it gazes on them.  It blurs and is in front of them. 

"What brings you to this place," it rasps, not moving its jaw much to speak.  It is obviously unnatural.  Notch is doing all he can not to attack.  He wanted to attack the undead wolves and then the skeletons and seeing this . . . this thing is not helping. 

"We are looking for things."  Jaden stops at how lame that sounds. 

"Well, then, good luck." 

"Can you tell us anything about it?" asks Deuce. 

"No, Deuce, I cannot.  Yes, I know your name.  I have been watching you for a while in your fight against the Sarrukh.  Yes, I know about them as well.  If you survive, we will talk.  I am Larloch, arcanist of Netheril."  So saying, the skeletal figure blurs and vanishes. 

The group is wary after this encounter but continues to the tower door. Deuce tries to find traps and doesn't find any.  The trap that he activates and avoids, as does the rest of the party, is quite a surprise.  Deuce mutters something about needing Lisha but looks again.  This time he doesn't see the poison needle trap and it hits him as he tries to unlock the door.  He manages to resist the poison and Jaden neutralizes it.  Deuce takes a slow poison potion and goes back to it, finally opening the door, getting hit by the poison once more. 

The main level of the tower has a few desks and shelves but it is mostly spartan.  Deuce again takes point and completely rolls out of the way of the trap that he activates.  He doesn't think it will reset.  They search the room and find several interesting books and notes on spell research.  As they are looking around, one notices the secret door that probably leads to the basement based on where it is located.  They decide to head downstairs. 

There is only the summoning circle, a rune filled double circle filled in with mithril, and the pit fiend it contains in the basement.  It looks very happy to see them!

"Oh, there you are!  Someone new!  Please, talk to me.  The one who trapped me here doesn't come down here that often and he doesn't talk to me anymore.  It's so nice to see new faces!" 

The group pauses.  They are unsure what to do but he doesn't attack.  He keeps talking. 

"So, how can I help you?  What would any of you like?" 

The group looks at each other.  That's when they notice the chest in the circle with the pit fiend. 

"You look like casters.  How about a really nice wand?"  So saying, the pit fiend goes over to the chest and pulls out a wand made of metal, slighter tapered and about ten inches long.  "This is quite nice, so I hear!" 

"Throw it to us," calls out Deuce. 

"I can't.  You have to come and get it from me." 

"Right."

The demon tosses the wand in an under hand throw toward the party.  As the circle's edge, it stops and drops to the ground. 

"See.  I can't do it."  He goes and picks it up and tries to push it to the group but neither it nor the wand are able to break through the circle.  "Obviously, this wand isn't what you want."  He goes back to the chest.  "Now that I have seen you, I know!  How about a staff of the arch magi?"  The pit fiend pulls a staff out of the chest, a chest which couldn't hold the staff the way the demon pulls it out.  "What do you say to this?"  He leans it against the barrier that stops it and it just sits there. Jaden and Deuce eye it, eagarly. 

The demon, watching this, nods.  "Ah, now I see you better.  You are a priest and a mage, are you not?  Perhaps the staff of the magi and priest would be better suited?"  Again, he brings a staff out of the chest in a way that shouldn't be possible.  He leans it against the barrier near the other staff.  "All you have to do is come get it.  Or ask for something!  Anything you want!  Just make a wish and I will give it to you.  What do you want?" 

The group talks a bit about it while the demon tempts them with more things.  At one point, the demon told Deuce he could make him better with spells.  Deuce actually paused on that one but in the end, no one took him up on the offer.  The demon begs, in a whiny voice, that they come back to talk to him as they start to leave.  He also changes his shape to look like a human merchant, in case it was his form that was disturbing them.  All shake their heads and head back to the first floor. 

Deuce hears the fighting outside and goes to look.  An adventuring group is fighting a few wolves and the skeletons!  Finn comes to look as well but they are holding their own, so he doesn't rush to help.  However, they all realize that there is some urgency.  Then, it gets worse.  Deuce recognizes the leader of the other group.  Nigel.  Lord Nigel.  He spits his name out and explains that it was Nigel's group where he first met Julia and Martin.  He says that Nigel is a noble and a jerk and they had better figure things out quickly and search the place or he will claim it all. 

They go up to the next level to find a complete wizard's alchemy lab.  Again, Deuce and Jaden are drooling, wondering how they can take it.  However, finding nothing interesting on their first pass, they keep going.  The next level has a very well stocked library.  And soon there is more drool on the floor.  They make note of what is there and go up to the final level.  Here they find a lich, staring into a crystal ball. 

Notch can't take it anymore.  The thing, the undead thing, is distracted by his crystal ball and Notch rushes forward to attack.  The others back him up and attack the lich.  The lich gets hit and many protections dispelled.  However, one time stop later and the lich is again protected.  The group lay into it again, destroying its physical body.  They know it isn't gone for good as they have no idea where its phlactory is but it's gone for the moment.  They take what they can, including a chest filled with money and gems.  Then they head back to the library. 

Jaden can't take it anymore and pulls out a bag of holding and starts taking everything he can fit into it.  When that one is filled up, he pulls out another and starts filling that one.  He makes quite a dent in the room.  In the meantime, the rest go down a level and there meet Nigel and his group.  Nigel and Deuce share some unpleasant words before Finn steps in to talk to him.  Nigel finds dealing with another noble much better and comes to an agreement with them.  However, as they are about done, Jaden comes down and in his best sermon voice, asks what they are doing when Jaden is not done yet!  He orders them to wait until he is done.  Surprisingly, Nigel and the others do wait.  After grabbing a few spell components and other items, Jaden then nods to them and heads back down to the other group. 

The group is now stuck with the dilemma of the pit fiend.  They want to get those things and are figuring out how to attack it.  Finn gets the other group, tells them what is happening and asks them for help.  Nigel agrees immediately, as he would like to see such a creature destroyed and unable to return to this plane.  Finn comes up with a plan of attack, outlines it to everyone and then they go back down. 

The demon is still there, and still looks like a merchant, but the items he pulled out are gone.  "Oh, good!  You have come back!  Now do you want something from me?  I have . . ."  He pauses as the group spreads out in an obvious offensive position, with the fighters next to the circle and the casters toward the back, away from the circle.  "Um, can't we talk about this?"

Notes

• One of the guys was gone so I had his character teleport back to their home.  Haven't figured out why yet.
• We had a "translation" problem with DND.  The group started in Alternity and in that, Deuce was able to track and pretty well.  However, tracking doesn't work the same way in DND so now he didn't have any skill to it.  I didn't do well with that but we decided on a new idea at the end that I think will work to let him track.
• I don't remember if a pit fiend is a "demon" or "devil" so I just used demon.  If it's a devil, it's my fault. 
• Another bad thing about DND was that the group is low on spell points.  (Same as being low on spells.)  They have wands but since it is the wands against a creature's SR, they don't even want to try them against the pit fiend, or anything that has SR.  It doesn't seem worth it.  I have been thinking about that and have some ideas that we can use.  I think this is another deficiency of the system.  It's great in the "sweet spot" areas but not so good at higher levels. 
• The player playing Finn came up with a plan on how to attack the demon.  It was fun.  He did it using dice and we looked at it via the remote camera.  It's not a bad idea at all!  We will see how it works in practice.