Session 14, Exploring the Tower

The goodberry moonshine is marvelous! I finally nailed down Will and we mixed some goodberries with the moonshine. It was awesome. We also mixed some with some wine. That was pretty good, but… the moonshine mixture was extraordinary. For some reason, the others seem to like the wine mixture better. I think they are still reeling from the last several fights we’ve been in. Maybe they got hit in the head a few times too many. Oh, I know! It was the stench and decay from the troglodytes still dulling their taste buds… Will does, however, start thinking like a businessman. He says, “We should sell this as a hangover tonic.”
 
I forgot to mention. We are at a tavern in Montsilt. We decided to use the portal to come here first. I find myself talking to a lady with a large cat. The cat is unique, not from this area. She says the cat is an ocelot. The kindles my knowledge a bit, as I remember the cat is a wild cat from where Will resides from. I had seen one before on display at the Auguston Citadel zoo once. As I talk to the lady, who is dressed as a typical ranger, I learn that she is the mother of Ardelis, of Ardelis’ Arrows fame. As I explained before, the Ardelis’ Arrows are a group of hunters and protectors that formed to protect against the goblin excursion, and they’ve evolved to be protectors of travelers.
 
Julia and Eowyn are talking with various people. Will disappears into the back. After a bit, he comes out a little glum. He explains that the waitress is a daughter of a friend. Apparently, she provided news that one of Will’s friends died in a coup.
 
Coups are nasty things. It is one of the reasons why the Master of Secrets at Auguston Citadel was so insistent that we pass along anything that we learned to him after escorting a charge. Anyone who might have been plotting an overthrow of a Lord, or even an overthrow of a minor noble, was quickly “disappeared”. Anyone who became too popular with the common folk was investigated by the Master of Secrets to see if they had any threatening intentions towards the ruling class. The Lord would seek those people to visit the court and ensure their allegiance. Interestingly, it is one of the reasons the Court (my father was a different story) allowed by apprenticeship with Thornwill. If Thornwill was showing any signs of usurping power or influence among the ruling class, I would—as a good courtier (which I wasn’t a “good” courtier)—immediately report that back so that see Master of secrets could respond accordingly.
 
While we prepare to move out the next morning, Will takes the magical bow we found and had it examined. As I have been concerned about the necromantic properties, Will agreed not to use the bow until we are sure it is not an instrument of evil. As I have said before, necromancy is a dangerous thing. There are a few (very few) good uses of necromancy—the Revivify is about the only good necromancy spell that I can think of right now, except maybe the Blight spell… which is beyond me. However, those who intentionally seek out and cast necromancy spells are usually corrupt, evil, horrible beings whom must be dispatched. As it turns out, his bow is not evil. It just allows him to shoot straighter (as if he really needs that), and his arrows penetrate armor a little bit more.
 
We gather back up and prepare to head through the portal to the next location. Come to think of it, when we arrived at the tavern, a portal appeared in the wall of the tavern next to the stairs, and we just walked into the sitting area. No one seemed too amazed by it.
 
Before we set out, Eowyn asks us if we would all like to hear a song. We all listen as her song, which she calls her Song of the Ancients… I might have the name wrong. Her singing voice is quite good… better than I would have suspected. I suspect she weaves some magic into her song. After we listen, we all feel upbeat and ready to take on whatever challenges come our way.
 
We jump back into the portal and head to the tower with the Orcish script. Eowyn believes this place is a tomb, most likely for a very important half-orc. Vardai is immediately intrigued. Will locates a squirrel casts Speak with Animals. Will makes squirrel noises, feeds it some snacks, and then translates. We ask Eowyn to cast the same spell that allowed her to show an image of the Halfling Necromancer (if the Necromancer is indeed who we think it is). The squirrel responds excitedly. So, it appears our vile Necromancer beat us here. Or, a humanoid that could possibly resemble the image that Eowyn conjured has beaten us here; assuming the squirrel understands representative sizing between halfling and taller humanoids, and that all humanoids don’t look the same to the squirrel.
 
We decide to enter the tower. Of course, it is definitely trapped. Eowyn casts a spell onto Julia to boost her dodginess. Julia finds something suspicious, probably a trap, but can’t see how to disarm it. I spend 10 minutes and cast Detect Magic. And then I see it, ruins that trigger the trap, which appears to unleash big swinging blades. Julia leaps over the first part of the trap and uses a mirror and mage hand to try to disable the ruins. She isn’t quite fast enough and get cuts on the arm by one of the swinging blades.
 
My detect magic also finds a magical rod within reach of her mage hand. Julia picks it up and looks at it, thinking it is an immovable rod. Julia quickly confirms that it is indeed, and then she uses it to stop the swinging blades. First trap defeated!
 
On to the second trap. We find some stone tablets. Eowyn reads them, but I can’t understand her (Note: In real life, we were having audio issues). We find a floor maze with two statues at the end. The statues are representations of the two Half-orc brothers who had the civil war (See Session 3, Of Cantrips and Spell Choices). The brothers are looking away from each other, representing their adversarial nature. I ask Eowyn if the letters match up with the stone tablets. Per Eowyn, we are looking for the word Toplum. I am completely unaware of how Eowyn came up with that word. But it works; we are able to cross the floor puzzle!
 
I sit down to recast Detect Magic. As I study the flames to bring about the spell, Eowyn talks about the Half-Orc brothers. Tradition has it that they are named Damik and Tamil. Damik was a mighty conqueror filled with greed. “Dark energy drove him forward,” (George Sanders). His brother Tamil tried to stop him, and they fought a mighty battle. Damik slew Tamil, and a great civil war erupted. Hours later, a mighty dragon called on Damik to submit. Damik refused, and led his nation into arms, bringing about the ruin of his civilization in a few short days (as told in George Sanders’ Poetry of Anhult (https://www.worldanvil.com/w/anhult/a/history-document)).
 
I finish my Detect Magic ritual and immediately find another trap, this one woven with Evocation magic. As we are debating how to get past it, someone suggests I summon Ember to teleport us across the trigger. A good idea, but Eowyn stops me to tell me to save my “Pact magic.” Is that what she thinks? That I’m a some sort of a warlock and signed myself into a pact? I don’t understand it entirely, but it is a bond that I have formed with Ember, not some form of a contract. I know that Ember is a primal spirit, whereas most conjuration spells that Druids can cast use fey spirits.
 
Thornwill, my mentor, did discuss conjuration magic with me a little. Apparently, in more ancient times, when a creature or monster was summoned, it was actually teleported from one place to another. Imagine being a poor innocent monster, being content with your life of terrorizing defenseless townsfolk. And then, a mighty wizard casts a conjuration spell and pulls you, unwillingly, across great distances and compels you to fight for that wizard. If that summoned creature fails to survive the encounter, it is then presumably transported back to where it was summoned, dead (Per the AD&D 2nd Edition Players Handbook, page 195 has a good description of this). I know this type of effect does not happen with Ember. When I summon my wildfire spirit, she always appears regardless of her last condition, and she does not come against her will.
 
Anyway, with Ember teleporting us across the trigger, we realize we avoided a nasty lightning trap. We go to an upstairs room and find a pedestal. This place seems like the final resting place of Damik. There is no body; Eowyn concludes that the body was disintegrated. It is a good thing, because then the Necromancer could not have retrieved Damik’s body for his foul purposes. However, if Tamil’s body was supposedly buried next to his brother’s, then where is that body?
 
Looking around, we find a magical Moon Sickle, a magical sash, and some Elven chain mail. More gear to make us better adventurers!
 
 
- Thank you to George Sanders, his Anhult Campaign, and World Anvil.
 
 
 
 
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