Session 14 - The Hidden Tower

General Summary

When last we left our heroes...

Vomit & Blood, along with the captain and first mate of The Moon Shadow, Thaddeus Rizzo and Gustav "Gonzo" Gonzolian, were engaged with a group of mysterious cloaked figures. The creatures suddenly appeared on the deck of the ship, and throughout the course of battle it became obvious that they were not flesh and blood humanoids but some kind of metal automaton contraptions.
The party was quickly able to wrap up the battle. Arindorf and Gonzo severely damaged one of the automatons. Marcel's magical surfboard smashed the head clean off one of the remaining two robots and right into the ocean. The cleric then called upon the power of Selûne, lifting his holy symbol aloft and speaking the ritual words, activating Selûne's Twilight Sanctuary. A beautiful sphere of dim blue light, just barely visible in the bright sunlight, emanated from the cleric, gentle motes drifting through it. The party felt themselves revitalized and ready to finish off this fight.
One of the automatons looked around, appearing to be measuring up the situation, and then vanished. "Coward!" yelled Flaar. Before the last remaining one could react, Trickles speared his rapier through it in just the right place, then watched as it crumpled to the ground in a heap of metal and cloth. The immediate danger now over, everyone took a breath.
Then Arindorf noticed that the unidentified ship they had spotted was sailing away from them, in the direction of the black pearl beam. Rizzo and Gonzo immediately leapt into action, heading to the helm to steer the Moon Shadow towards the fleeing ship.
While this was going on, Marcel asked Glitz what she knew about Haklack. "Well, he's always been pretty chill," Glitz explained. "The piracy thing is kind of shocking, to be honest. But he's definitely interested in merging magic with technology. This kind of thing," she said, gesturing to the battered automatons on the deck, "is definitely right up his alley."
Marcel and Flaar examined the metal creatures closely, but couldn't tell what type of magic was powering them, or how they were put together. They did both agree that the helmet the creatures appeared to be wearing did appear to be more than a normal helmet.
"They're getting away, they're getting away!" Rizzo cried from his place at the helm. "Should we stay the course?"
"Set full sail, and get the crew up here!" Arindorf yelled. Gonzo ran below deck to get the crew, and soon the top decks were bustling with activity. But within a few minutes, it became clear that it wasn't working.
"I can't even see them anymore," Rizzo said, shaking his head. "If it weren't for this pearl magic I wouldn't even know where to go."
Trickles climbed up to the bow crow's nest, striking a dramatic pose. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something - a small speck of an island on the horizon, directly along the path of the beam. "Land ho!" he yelled. The crew prepared to stay the course, and our adventurers took a moment to rest below deck, getting ready for whatever was coming next.

On the Island

It was not quite dusk when Gonzo knocked on the party's quarters. "We're here," he said. "We're going to drop anchor, and anyone going ashore should go ashore." As the heroes went topside, they could see the island before them, a little ways off from the ship. There was no tower of any kind in sight, but the black pearl beam was shining directly at the island's center.
As they prepared the rowboat, Rizzo explained that he and Gonzo would have to stay with the crew. "But I promise you: The ship won't leave without you, and without Haklack on board - dead or alive!"
The party crowded in to one of the rowboats and made their way towards the island. While on their way, Marcel shared Selûne's Eyes of Night with the non-darkvision part of the group (Slappa, Arindorf, and Trickles), so no one would be at disadvantage as the sun began to set. After a few minutes, the rowboat landed on shore. The group could see that it was a small island, thinly wooded, but most trees around them seemed burnt up, as if there had been a fire recently. On the beach, directly in the way of the beam of light, they could see the outline of a small cabin.
Flaar cast False Life on the group while Arindorf tied up the boat. Marcel cast See Invisibility but couldn't see any new creatures or objects around the island. The group noticed that it was starting to feel a little warm on the beach. They were moving together towards the cabin when suddenly two Fire Snakes appeared out of the woods, heading straight for the party with menacing hisses.
The group leapt into action. Glitz threw one of her daggers right into one of the snakes' eyes. The creature hissed and screamed as the dagger embedded itself. Slappa leapt to the front and let out a blast of his freeze breath. The two snakes dodged but still managed to get hit by the blast, and it seemed like the cold was really affecting them. Trickles managed to slay one with his rapier, but the heat from the snake burned him slightly as well, and his rapier began to melt. Slappa created a Sphere of Protection with the Lute of Chaos, and Marcel, taking advantage of it, hit the remaining snake with Inflict Wounds. With a magical burst of energy, its head exploded. Fiery bits of snake hit everyone, but thanks to the sphere nobody got hurt.

The "Cabin"

Turning their attention towards the cabin, V&B could see it was small, about 40 by 40 feet, with a door in front, three windows, and a fireplace. Glitz easily picked the door with her thieves' tools, and the group spilled into the room. Once inside, they could tell that the entire outside was all an illusion. The windows were gone, just four solid stone walls. No beds, no bookshelves, nothing. They didn't even feel heat coming off of the fire in the fireplace. The only thing in the room of note was a small treasure chest in one corner, opposite the fireplace.
Upon entering the cabin, everyone except Flaar suddenly felt a sense of calmness, vitality and life. Feeling emboldened, Trickles headed straight for the chest, intending to open it. "Trickles, can we think about this first!!" yelled Glitz. Trickles looked at Glitz, looked at the chest, then backed away.
Going over to the fireplace, Trickles waved his hands through the flames - and felt nothing. "Hey look, I'm a witch!" he said, jumping into the fireplace. Then he saw a ladder at the back of the fireplace, leading to the next floor. "The Lord of the Fire has brought you a ladder!" he called to everyone else.
Meanwhile, Marcel had been examining the chest closely but couldn't find anything suspicious. He went ahead and opened the lid. The door to the room immediately slammed shut, and a dark gas started filling the room. "Quick, everyone up the ladder!" Trickles yelled, and everyone scrambled up, fortunately making it to the next floor before anyone breathed in too much of the gas.
As everyone crowded up into the next room, they found it to be larger than the one they came up, roughly 80 by 80 feet, with a large stone column in the middle of the room. The ladder they had climbed up continued to the next floor, with what appeared to be a trap door in the ceiling. There were also seven doors encircling the room. Everyone could hear a faint clanking sound coming from the outer edges of the walls. It had become very clear - V&B had just reached Level 2 of the Tower of Haklack.

OUT OF SESSION NOTES:

• Trickles' Rapier now has -1 damage
• Marcel has about 50 minutes left of "See Invisibility" and sharing "Eyes of the Night" with everyone.

Fire Snakes

Report Date

04 Dec 2020

Characters Interacted With:
Thaddeus Rizzo
Gustav "Gonzo" Gonzolian

The Short Version

After finishing off their battle against the mysterious metal automatons (but not before one was able to teleport away), our heroes attempted to chase after the ship that had appeared in the distance, but it was too fast for them and managed to get away. The Moon Shadow continued traveling along the black pearl's beam of light until it came to a small wooded island. The party rowed ashore, and fought two terrifying Fire Snakes before entering the only structure on the island - a small cabin that was not what it seemed. Upon discovering a secret ladder within the illusion of a fireplace, and narrowly escaping a nasty poison gas trap, Vomit & Blood found themselves in the second level of what very much seemed to be the Tower of Haklack.