The Tower of Whispers

General Summary

Returning to Ardanyan the party find that they have been left a note from Branda.

My friends I have received word that Tergan Flinn is being held in the Verduran forest, this is clearly a trap but I must head there and see what I can find, knowing how these things usually go I assume that you are also heading to the same place. I'm leaving this note for the unlikely event that you do not meet me there, below you can find the location I intend to head to.

Also in the event that we die on this last adventure here are the details of a secret we were never able to explore in our hayday, may you find adventure there. --Branda

— The letter from Branda

Inside the letter is a map to the house in the Verduran forest as well as details of The Tower of Whispers a legendary tower that floats a circuit around Barsaive. There is no way to teleport to the tower and it is too high for a Windling to fly to, but Branda's notes reveal that once a year it comes within bow range of the highest peaks of the Throal Mountains. The date of the next time it is close enough is soon, the party decide to head for the mountains to see whether they can get to the tower.

In the Mountains

The trek up into the mountains is long and hard, the weather treacherous. As they near the mountain thay seek the party hear the beating of great wings on the wind and soon the Great Dragon Icewing swings into view, landing on the mountainside near them.

Hauflin is excited at his first encounter with a Dragon and flys over to talk to him. Fortunatly Icewing finds his babel of questions amusing not irritating.
The Dragon speaks with the group about their perpose within his terratory and allows them to continue through if they give to him a book that is in the tower. The book is called The White Treatise.
With Icewing's permission the party venture on to the correct mountain top and wait for the Tower to approach close enough. When it does Hauflin flys over with a rope and secures it to a tree that is growing from the closest point on the tower. The others climb across but Giltris slips and falls, but Astra manages to summon a giant eagle to catch her and carry her to the Tower.

The Tower of Whispers

Heading up to the tower the party enter the ground floor only to be confronted by a large Gollum who Hauflin immediately dubs Dave. The Gollum reveals that the tower is in need of new guardians and that they have volunteered, they must pass the tests or be ejected from the Tower. The first test is to defeat him, with that he attacks.
The fight is hard and it looks like the party may not win but Hauflin spots a shiny gemstone in the throne that the Gollum was sitting on and proceeds to pry it free, he then spots an indentation on the Gollum’s back that would fit the stone and flies up behind him and fits it while he is distracted fighting with Ragnaros. When the stone is fitted the Gollum goes dormant and then announces that they have passed the first test. With the way to the upper floors open the party head up to explore.
They find many interesting things. In one room there are many thrones set in a half circle with glowing stones set into the arms, when Hauflin sits in one he can see out one side of the tower and direct some kind of magical weapon. Giltris also tries one of the other thrones and finds she gets another view out of the tower and control of a different weapon. Hauflin decides he will get Primrose the spider t sit in another to see what happens. The others exploring further up the tower had found a library and Astra was busy reading books while Ragnaros had gone further up to find a crystal ball which when touched showed him a view of a large Dragons eye looking back at him. They are soon interrupted by the distant sound of explosions from below and run downstairs to see what was going on. They find Primrose in one of the Thrones gleefully unleashing destruction upon something below, Hauflin had gotten bored and gone to explore more of the tower so Ragnaros had to try to get Primrose out of the Throne.
There is a shout from upstairs and they rush up to find that Hauflin had gotten caught in some kind of magical trap in what looks like a wizards bedroom, the rug on the floor had come alive and was grabbing him with tentacles.
Meanwhile Giltris gets out of the throne she was using and jumps into one of the others and immediately screams out in pain as her eyes are roasted out of their sockets by magical backlash.
The party manage to stabilize the wounded elf and Astra consults the library on the other tests that may be required while the others investigate the Dragon in the crystal ball. He reveals himself to be Earthroot and proceeds to probe the party’s minds for weakness, when he is satisfied he reveals that they have passed another test. Astra finds out that the last is a ritual they need to perform at the top of the tower pledging themselves to its defence before the Passions.
They perform the ritual gaining the gods belessing and a mysterious new tattoo on their shoulders.

Exploring more of the Tower

With the ritual of the tower completed and themselves set as the new guardians of the Tower the party head down to explore the rest of the tower. Hauflin decides to try taking Giltris soul gem and placing it on the Golum he dubed "Dave". It works but

Character(s) interacted with

Icewing
"Dave" the Golum

Created Content

A new anchor stone for the tower.

Campaign

Ashes of Ardanyan

Protagonists

Giltris

Hauflin

Ragnaros

Astra

Report Date

22 Jul 2018

Secondary Location

Throal Mountain Range