RoT 20: "Xonthal's Tower"
Expedition
In the aftermath of the latest assassination attempt by the Cult of the Dragon, you make it back to Waterdeep for the third gathering of the Council of Waterdeep afterwhich you are granted responsiblity of distributing the dragons the Council of Metallic Dragons have provided.
During your planning, you receive a letter from a would be Cult defector who promises a great prize if you help him escape -- the Blue Dragon Mask.
Your plans are set for disbursement of the metallic dragons that have been sent to aid you and the two young gold dragons you requested to use as transportation have also arrive – twin brothers Leitenuber and Aufzuguber. You climb into repurposed hot air balloon baskets and the brother lift you up into the air for the 2-day, 700 mile flight Xonthal’s Tower, which you know is not just the tower itself but also the name of the village on the outskirts of its infamous hedge maze.
Brehana is aware of the legends surrounding the place and shares her knowledge with the rest of the group.
Xonthal is legendary among wizards and tale-spinners and was rumored to have constructed unusual magical defenses in and around his tower- including the magical hedge maze surrounding it. He was also known to have kept Genies and Elementals for company while he studied conjuration and elemental evocation.
When you arrive, you note that from the air, this legendary maze appears to be just an overgrown tangled mess with no discernable paths. Leitenuber and Aufzuguber confirm there are magical protections that prevent them from landing in the Maze on in the Tower courtyard so you’re going to have to find your way in through the village.
You have the brothers land a fair distance outside of the village as you already noted villages pointing up as you flew over and feel there’s no need to startle them any further by landing in their midst. You unharness the baskets and hide them in the nearby woods so the dragons can be unencumbered while they patrol as you perform your mission. They give you a golden whistle shaped like a dragon and let you know it is enchanted. “Ven you are ready to go, just blow, yah!”, says Leitenuber and off they fly.
Entering the village, the people are cautions but still friendly, at least until you meet the Lord Mayor, Nothard (pronounce ‘Nah-Thard’ , but you find out later some call him “not hard” behind his back). He’s actually rather rude, though check of his thoughts using Hazirawn reveals he is sincere – he’s genuinely concerned that if anyone makes it into the Tower they might unleash destruction on the village and his people. He does at least manage to recommend a good inn and tavern – the Bluechair Inn & Tavern to be exact.
At the Bluechair you are greeted and served by the owner herself, an older dwarf woman named Kari. She confirms a few rumors including that the village known as Xonthal’s Tower is the result of the wizard’s former apprentices starting a settlement here around a century ago when he kicked them all out of the Tower. Over time others settled here as well for protection from Orcs and other monsters. She herself retird from adventuring here not terribly long after the place was established.
Other things of note are that someone (or something) has clearly taken up residency in the Tower about a year ago as lights can be seen in the windows at night (something you are able to confirm yourselves later that evening). Some think it’s Xonthal returned, some think he’s become a Lich, still others think that the Genies or Elementals he once studied have broken out of their bonds but still somehow trapped inside.
As for the rumors of there having been a blue dragon spotted flying over, Kari says she’s heard that rumor but not seen it herself.
The next day as you approach the Maze entrance several well meaning villagers attempt to warn you of its dangers. You even notice they’ve built a small fence to prevent children and animals from accidentally wandering into it. But in you go, and after a few minutes you enter an intersection where eight paths converge symmetrically. You can see Xonthal’s Tower dead ahead above the hedge wall, but the way the paths curve, there’s no telling which one might lead to it.
A sundial stands in the center of the intersection, the shadow from its gnomon pointing straight toward the tower — which is highly odd, because the sun isn’t behind you. Your shadows point in the proper direction. Only the sundial’s shadow points ahead. The sundial is clearly magical as Malice has Detect Magic up as you enter the Maze but is not dangerous as his new cat familiar is able to touch it as is Pubert – although even with all his strength, he cannot budge it all. So you decide to follow the path the sundial is pointing to.
After what feels like an hour and a half of walking around curved paths that limit your visibility to 15 feet and the Tower always seeming to be ahead but at different distances you enter an intersection where eight paths converge symmetrically, a sundial stands in the center intersection, but this time the shadow from its gnomon is split, pointing both north and east. After a bit of deliberation, you choose to go southwest.
After an hour you enter an eighty-foot-square courtyard, at the center of which is a circular pool of water sixty feet across. The water is dark and murky, reducing visibility to about one foot. A garnet gemstone hovers one foot above the center of the pool. Another path leaves the area through the hedge wall on the far side of the pool, directly opposite where you entered.
You choose to ignore the pool and garnet, thinking they are likely a trap and exit the courtyard through the opening on the other side. Alas, after walking several minutes, you find yourself back in the same courtyard with the same pool. Malice uses Mage Hand to retrieve the garnet but as soon as he does four Chuuls emerge from the pool and attack. During the fight, Rikon drops his magical longsword which one of the Chuuls retrieves and then dives into the pool with, but you are able to kill the other three.
Now you currently standing over the corpses of three dead Chuuls and trying to determine how to get to the one that still lives and has stolen Rikon’s sword, and taken it into the depths of the pool.
Your plans are set for disbursement of the metallic dragons that have been sent to aid you and the two young gold dragons you requested to use as transportation have also arrive – twin brothers Leitenuber and Aufzuguber. You climb into repurposed hot air balloon baskets and the brother lift you up into the air for the 2-day, 700 mile flight Xonthal’s Tower, which you know is not just the tower itself but also the name of the village on the outskirts of its infamous hedge maze.
Brehana is aware of the legends surrounding the place and shares her knowledge with the rest of the group.
Xonthal is legendary among wizards and tale-spinners and was rumored to have constructed unusual magical defenses in and around his tower- including the magical hedge maze surrounding it. He was also known to have kept Genies and Elementals for company while he studied conjuration and elemental evocation.
When you arrive, you note that from the air, this legendary maze appears to be just an overgrown tangled mess with no discernable paths. Leitenuber and Aufzuguber confirm there are magical protections that prevent them from landing in the Maze on in the Tower courtyard so you’re going to have to find your way in through the village.
You have the brothers land a fair distance outside of the village as you already noted villages pointing up as you flew over and feel there’s no need to startle them any further by landing in their midst. You unharness the baskets and hide them in the nearby woods so the dragons can be unencumbered while they patrol as you perform your mission. They give you a golden whistle shaped like a dragon and let you know it is enchanted. “Ven you are ready to go, just blow, yah!”, says Leitenuber and off they fly.
Entering the village, the people are cautions but still friendly, at least until you meet the Lord Mayor, Nothard (pronounce ‘Nah-Thard’ , but you find out later some call him “not hard” behind his back). He’s actually rather rude, though check of his thoughts using Hazirawn reveals he is sincere – he’s genuinely concerned that if anyone makes it into the Tower they might unleash destruction on the village and his people. He does at least manage to recommend a good inn and tavern – the Bluechair Inn & Tavern to be exact.
At the Bluechair you are greeted and served by the owner herself, an older dwarf woman named Kari. She confirms a few rumors including that the village known as Xonthal’s Tower is the result of the wizard’s former apprentices starting a settlement here around a century ago when he kicked them all out of the Tower. Over time others settled here as well for protection from Orcs and other monsters. She herself retird from adventuring here not terribly long after the place was established.
Other things of note are that someone (or something) has clearly taken up residency in the Tower about a year ago as lights can be seen in the windows at night (something you are able to confirm yourselves later that evening). Some think it’s Xonthal returned, some think he’s become a Lich, still others think that the Genies or Elementals he once studied have broken out of their bonds but still somehow trapped inside.
As for the rumors of there having been a blue dragon spotted flying over, Kari says she’s heard that rumor but not seen it herself.
The next day as you approach the Maze entrance several well meaning villagers attempt to warn you of its dangers. You even notice they’ve built a small fence to prevent children and animals from accidentally wandering into it. But in you go, and after a few minutes you enter an intersection where eight paths converge symmetrically. You can see Xonthal’s Tower dead ahead above the hedge wall, but the way the paths curve, there’s no telling which one might lead to it.
A sundial stands in the center of the intersection, the shadow from its gnomon pointing straight toward the tower — which is highly odd, because the sun isn’t behind you. Your shadows point in the proper direction. Only the sundial’s shadow points ahead. The sundial is clearly magical as Malice has Detect Magic up as you enter the Maze but is not dangerous as his new cat familiar is able to touch it as is Pubert – although even with all his strength, he cannot budge it all. So you decide to follow the path the sundial is pointing to.
After what feels like an hour and a half of walking around curved paths that limit your visibility to 15 feet and the Tower always seeming to be ahead but at different distances you enter an intersection where eight paths converge symmetrically, a sundial stands in the center intersection, but this time the shadow from its gnomon is split, pointing both north and east. After a bit of deliberation, you choose to go southwest.
After an hour you enter an eighty-foot-square courtyard, at the center of which is a circular pool of water sixty feet across. The water is dark and murky, reducing visibility to about one foot. A garnet gemstone hovers one foot above the center of the pool. Another path leaves the area through the hedge wall on the far side of the pool, directly opposite where you entered.
You choose to ignore the pool and garnet, thinking they are likely a trap and exit the courtyard through the opening on the other side. Alas, after walking several minutes, you find yourself back in the same courtyard with the same pool. Malice uses Mage Hand to retrieve the garnet but as soon as he does four Chuuls emerge from the pool and attack. During the fight, Rikon drops his magical longsword which one of the Chuuls retrieves and then dives into the pool with, but you are able to kill the other three.
Now you currently standing over the corpses of three dead Chuuls and trying to determine how to get to the one that still lives and has stolen Rikon’s sword, and taken it into the depths of the pool.