As
usual, Yaz is up earlier than the rest and wanders off to a grove in
order to make his devotions to Prirodna. Knowing what they day will
bring, he takes longer over his devotions than usual, praying to
Prirodna to give him the strength to fight against the unholy within
the tower.
He returns and sees the
acolyte in the center of the camp, still quaking with fear. Will is
watching over him, having got the final watch. The druid comes to
speak with him:
"You said 'we' were sent to
spy on us. Where are the others?" he asks.
The acolyte looks nervously
at the sight of Viirin at Yaz's side, and stammers his reply:
'We were unable to track you
and so we only knew the general direction that you headed off in. The
four of us went in different directions in the hope that one of us
would find you. I would guess that the other three have returned by
now. None of us really wanted to stay out here very long, as there
are giant bats that roost in the spire of the tower.'
Will thinks of a final
question before Yaz goes to cast an enchantment upon him:
"Are there any sacrifices
planned in the immediate future? How often do these sacrifices take
place? When is the next sacrifice to take place?"
'They only take place a few
days after a couple in the village produce their first child'
explains the acolyte. 'As the village is so small, it doesn't happen
so often, once every four or five years on average. None of the women
are pregnant at the moment or have recently given birth and so there
won't need to be any sacrifices for a long time yet.'
Will looks a little relieved
at the information.
Yaz then begins to cast upon
the bound cleric, terrifying him. As he finishes chanting and
gesticulating, the acolyte calms.
"Listen carefully" Yaz
instructs the acolyte. "It's very important for my sake that you
listen carefully. You are to tell anyone who asks you that we have
left; that we made camp for the day, and that we decided the Tower
was too scary to investigate. You spied on us all night and into the
morning in order to see where we'd go. We have fled away from the
Tower, and will never return. Tell your priests this. You are a good
and faithful servant, and Smurt shall reward you."
With that, he unbinds him,
pats the poor sot on the bum and sends him away. Yaz watches him as
he scurries off in the direction of the village.
Shortly after the acolyte
has been sent on his way, the others awaken and ready themselves for
the day ahead. Robert has made them all a hearty breakfast, which
tastes as terrible as usual.
"So," says the druid, "to
the Tower then?"
Everyone nods, apart from
Bennett who thinks that it is still better to go after Baltzarek now
before attempting the assault upon the tower. After seeing that the
others are set upon conquering the tower immediately, however, he
agrees to abide by the majority decision, although he does make his
disagreement known to the rest of you:
"If the group wishes to go
to the Tower first, I will not argue with it. However, I would
strenuously argue against the logic that this Baltzarek is holding
anything back. If he is sacrificing newborns to the Tower's undead,
then he is in league with them, and all talk of rebutting his
argument or convincing the villagers he is wrong are a foolish waste
of time. The one fact here is that this fellow knows quite a bit
about the Tower, and we are choosing to disdain that knowledge for,
as near as I can tell, no reason at all. If this were to be a walk in
the park, or a troop of goblins, then I would agree with you, but I
listened to Jihan speaking about these creatures, and I do not wish
to walk in there without knowing as much as I can. As always, I will
not force my opinions on the rest of the group, but I think this
Baltzarek is both too dangerous for us to leave behind in the
village, and too knowledgeable for us to just ignore."
Bennett shakes his
head.
"Let's just avoid them"
responds Yaz. "If we run across them, I guess that's tough titties.
Maybe Jihan and Will could go on ahead when we approach the Tower to
make sure we're not spotted entering the place."
Jihan and Will willingly
agree to scout out the approach to the tower.
'Before we go' says
Winnacer, 'let's make sure that our mounts and supplies are still
here when we get back. I'd hate to have to walk back from
here.'
Winnacer goes with Robert to
the top of the brow of a hill to find a landmark to send Robert to.
He sees a small lake about a mile down the hill and tells Robert to
wait for the rest of them there. Robert agrees and starts to stow the
tents onto the asses and lead the horses to the spot. Giving his
reins to Robert, he tells Min to stay with him while stooping to pet
the happy dog:
"Min, be a good boy and help
Robert here keep an eye on things while we're gone. Stay...
Guard."
Having sorted out Robert,
Winnacer takes a deep breath and speaks:
'It is time. May our gods
protect us as we undertake this crusade.'
They all nod, check their
weapons and spell components one last time and make their way towards
the tower. Jihan and Robert scout ahead in order to ensure that there
are no surprises waiting for them. But all is quiet. Very
quiet.
As they get closer and
closer to the tower, the stillness surrounding them becomes almost
unbearable. No birds sing, no insects move and there is no wind to
sway the brown leaves of the trees in the area. They start to climb
the steep hill that the tower crowns, their hearts beating faster as
they do so. The higher that they climb, the less vegetation there is.
The trees have been twisted into unnatural shapes and no grass grows
beneath them. Two third of the way up, there are no trees at all,
just the deep black soil of the ground beneath them. With every step
they take towards it, the tower looms larger and larger.
Eventually, the climb is
over and they stop before the tower in order to regain their breaths
and look at the tower from the outside. As Jihan told the others as
he first saw the tower, the building is six stories tall, and topped
by a sloping flat spire made of black slate. They notice that there
are several large holes in the roof, so it is highly likely that the
roof could be home to more of the demon bats that they faced two
nights ago. The tower is square in shape, with each of its four sides
appearing to be totally symmetrical.
The stones of the tower are
smooth, and look to have aged little during the five centuries since
the unholy tower was built. A few arrowslits are carved into the
wall. At first, it looks as if they are open to the outside, but as
they look more closely, they see that they are glazed, with the glass
being coated in a thick layer of dirt making it impossible to see
inside.
The door to the tower is
large and made of thick black wooden beams nailed together with black
cast iron crossbars. It is some eight foot high and six foot wide.
Somewhat ominously, the door is ajar.
More ominous than the ajar
door, however, are the gargoyles that they see at the four corners of
the building, just below its roof.
Jihan observes the stone
carvings with great unease:
'I've read stories about
these carvings. It has been known that some of them have been brought
to life by…errm…evil mages.'
As he says these words,
there is a creak of stone as the gargoyles turn towards them. They
open their eyes to reveal that they are glowing blue gems. They look
towards the party for a brief instance.
Winnacer calmly draws 'Old
Bohavia' and speaks with no emotion in his voice:
'I knew that it would be too
good to be true that Boscobelous would leave the tower totally
undefended. Everyone prepare for incoming.'
As if on cue, the stone
beasts unfold their wings and swoop down towards the party.
The first swoops down and
tries to rake Winnacer with its claws, but the young lord easily
dodges the gargoyle's attack. The gargoyle lands behind him and so
Winnacer wheels and starts to lay into him with 'Old Bohavia'. The
gargoyle's stone skin is tough though, and the noble blade fails to
penetrate.
The second of them targets
Jihan. The nimble elf manages to avoid one of the creature's claws,
but the other rakes him, although it is hardly more than a scratch.
He quickly launches into the gargoyle with Diamond Stealth and
Langzhan. His aim with Diamond Stealth is true and he damages the
gargoyle, but loses his grip on Langzhan. Not missing a beat, he
draws Wespe to fill his hand.
The third gargoyle swoops
down upon Shaman Hrust and slashes him. The shaman starts to cast his
flaming blade spell so that he can fight off the creature.
The final one attacks the
huge, silver-furred form of Viirin, but the wolf saw him coming and
managed to dodge his claws. The winter wolf turns to face him and
breathes his frost breath upon the creature. As is usually the case,
his breath has a devastating effect, and the gargoyle recoils from
the icy blast, although does not fall.
Those of them not targeted
by the gargoyles rush to assist those who were. Will draws his
longsword and dagger and goes to assist Winnacer who is close to him.
He strikes home with the longsword, but cannot reach with the
dagger.
Xavier goes to assist Jihan,
but his blows cannot pierce the brute's stone hide. Bennett also
helps out Jihan, and is delighted to see that Regret slashes into the
creature's head causing some major damage.
Yaz goes to help Viirin.
After seeing the devastation of the wolf's breath, he decides not to
use one of his precious flame blades upon the creature and so uses
his scimitar instead. It is not sufficient to cut through the
creature's skin, however.
Faewen'il holds back. The
combat seems to have started fairly well for you all and so she does
not want to start using her precious spells until she has to.
Zsolt, not surprisingly,
rushes to aid the bugbear. He brings his bastard sword crashing down
upon the gargoyle almost killing it instantly. Hrust regrets casting
the flaming blade spell as he sees that the gargoyle is unlikely to
last much longer.
Winnacer attempts to strike
at the creature, but it dodges his swing. Will, however, is on a
roll, and hits the beast with both the longsword and dagger, although
the damage is not that deadly. The gargoyle rakes Winnacer with both
of his claws, somehow managing to find a chink in his armor.
Jihan, Xavier and Bennett
all try to finish off the second gargoyle as quickly as possible, but
only Bennett's blow is on target. Once again, he damages the gargoyle
badly and the creature recoils from the blow. It strikes back in
retaliation at Bennett and gouges him with its horn, although the
damage is not too severe.
Hrust lays into the next
gargoyle, but the gargoyle dodges his blow. Zsolt more than makes up
for it, however as he brings his sword crashing down upon the
gargoyle once more and smashes its head in.
Viirin attempts to finish
off the other, but the stone skin of the gargoyle is too tough foe
his teeth. Yaz too has no luck in hitting the creature. The gargoyle
is more successful, clawing both Yaz and Viirin and also gouging
Viirin with its horn. Once again, the damage is far from
severe.
The first gargoyle attacks
Winnacer and Will again and gets its payback upon Will by biting him
terribly in the chest, sending him reeling back with the pain. This
enrages Winnacer and he plunges 'Old Bohavia' deep into the
gargoyle's flank. At the same time Will is also out for revenge and
hacks into the beast, felling it instantly.
Seeing its comrade fall, the
second gargoyle is enraged and lashes out wildly with both claws, its
jaws and its horn. All three of the warriors are damaged by the
attack, with Jihan feeling the worst of it as he gets badly clawed by
the creature. The fury of the creature takes them by surprise and
neither Jihan nor Xavier are able to respond. Bennett, however, saves
the day by finishing the creature as he hacks into its head.
Viirin is hit by a claw and
the horn of the last remaining gargoyle, but luckily the damage is
far from severe. Viirin attempts to bite into it, but again his teeth
cannot penetrate its skin. Yaz is similarly unsuccessful. Seeing only
one gargoyle remain, Hrust and Zsolt join the combat. Hrust thrusts
his fireblade into the beast's eye with all of his might and the
blade penetrates almost to its fiery hilt leaving the last of the
creatures dead.
They all breathe a sigh of
relief. The first opponents are dead and the majority of them have
only minor wounds to show from the fight.
Jihan examines the
creatures:
'I think that these gems
could be fairly valuable. Let's get them out, I'm sure that Heimlin
will be able to tell us how much they're worth.'
Using their blades, they
take out the gems and Jihan pops them into his pouch. They all come
out easily, with the exception of the one that Hrust hit hard with
his fiery blade which is fused into the stone.
They pause for a moment to
see if there are any more guardians of the tower without, but all
seems to be calm. They walk up to the door. Winnacer makes to open
it.
'Wait' says Yaz. 'Let's get
Heathcliff to check inside before we go in there ourselves.'
Yaz casts upon the owl on
his shoulder and Heathcliff flies through the door, accompanied by
his mate. Yaz gives a running commentary as Heathcliff's eyes pierce
the gloom.
'Well there's nothing hiding
behind the doors to jump out at us. There are guardrooms either side
of the door, but no welcoming committee for us inside. There's a long
corridor that runs the length of the floor, ten foot wide. Going down
the corridor, there are doors on either side about two-thirds of the
way along. They're closed. At the end of the corridor there is a
stone spiral staircase going up and down. Let's see what's downstairs
first. Oh, it looks as if the basement is flooded, but by the look of
it, it's not that deep, a couple of feet maximum I'd say by the
amount of door that is exposed, perhaps less. OK, lets have a look up
the stairs at the higher floors.'
Yaz then describes each of
the floors. Heathcliff can't reveal that much as all of the doors in
the tower are closed, but as he travels around as much as he can, he
does not see any inhabitants. Each of the floors seems to have a
different layout as the corridors are different off the stairs in
each case. Some of them have no corridors off at all, rather just
small landings with several doors off. Seeing that Heathcliff has
seen all there is that can be seen, the owl returns and goes to sit
back on Yaz's shoulder.
'I guess that we shall just
have to check it out ourselves' finishes Yaz. 'At least we know that
we don't have to worry about anything in the corridors, just the
rooms.'
After the combat is over,
the pain and feel of flowing blood register through the ebbing rush
of Will's adrenaline:
"Egad! I'm bitten! Why
didn't someone tell me I was hurt so badly! Gargoyles, bluk!"
He kicks at the crumbling
pieces of stone that were attacking them moments ago.
"Fae, my dulcit darling.
Would you be a dear and touch my wounds with your soothing skills
with herbs and bandaging. Thank you ever so much."
Faewen'il is pleased to help
and rushes over to Will where she starts to apply herbs and bandages
to his wounds.
After Fae is finished, he
starts to move about:
"Eeyah! I still hurt. Yaz,
could I trouble you or Hrust for a bit of your gods' grace and
healing?"
Yaz instantly agrees and
then goes to Will and starts to say the familiar words of the healing
spell. He casts upon the injured bard, but the effect of the magick
is weak. The druid utters a curse and then casts another spell. This
one is substantially more successful and brings Will almost back to
full health.
"You are healed, brother.
Now how 'bout an 'amen'?" Yaz asks with a grin.
Afterward, Will releases the
armor spell which is fading quickly, and re-casts the spell anew upon
himself.
"There now. Ready for the
next adventure."
He speaks lightly, but his
eyes show that he is truly fighting to keep his fear hidden. Then,
sitting down for a moment, Will pulls out pen and paper to note the
tower's details so far:
"If I am to be the
chronicler for the group, then I suppose this duty falls to me. It
matters not to me how we approach the rest of the tower. I will
document all that we find while strength remains in these hands."
"If you so wish it,
brother," Jihan says, pulling out a small notebook and metal vial of
ink.
"I got these from Kesryk
when I told him of our mission, and I've been keeping notes about the
land and the tower's appearance while I stood guard by the fire."
You notice that the elf's
keen eyes for detail also transmit to his meticulous note taking,
which is in a fine, compact, yet still neat and flowing
script.
"Perhaps we can work
together and compare notes..."
Looking at the book again,
he smiles:
"Ooops, that's my
journal..."
Reaching into his pack yet
again, he pulls out the real notebook, which you see he has had a
large 'B' placed on the outside cover.
"That's the one..." he says,
handing the book to the bard.
"Thank you Jihan. You are
full of wonderful surprises" responds Will. "Shall we work together?
Let's shall!"
"Hmmm. B stands for.......
Book? Bard's book? Bad Boy's Boogers? Bingo Biddings? Baby Buggy
Bumpers? Big Bloody Bug Bear Booties?"
Will looks over to Hrust for
signs of comprehension and giggles.
Hrust just stares back at
him, having no idea what the bard is taking about.
"Bouncing Baby Boscobelous'
Bashfully Basted Books Bound Better By Burgomeister Brollo
Bandotasker, Bohavia's Best, Beatific Bookbinder," the elf replies
nonchalantly, with only a hint of a grin.
"That's what Brollo himself
told me it stood for."
Will attempts to control an
outburst of laughter, turning purple and shaking visibly, then lets
out a," Wahhhhhaaaa!" Then slaps his hand over his mouth and tries
more to control himself.
Jihan makes his way around,
helping Fae as she goes around each of them that received minor
injuries applying salves and binding the wounds. He does so without
word, though he appears a little more relaxed falling into this
familiar role.
Once he has finished helping
to attend to the wounded, he takes the gems out of the pouch again
and investigates them in more detail:
'Blue peridots I believe
these are. I think that they should be worth around 200 g.p. a piece'
he says as he secures them back in his pouch.
Winnacer sees that
everyone's wounds are bandaged and speaks to them all:
'We should not dally while
ridding the tower of its inhabitants. We should aim to be out of here
before dark, as it is then that the undead walk.'
"Let us enter now."