Session 38

General Summary

Let Me In

The eight different symbols on the door, if pressed in an incorrect sequence, light briefly...flicker, then go out again.
After some deliberation and team building exercises, the party combines the pattern seen on the signet ring with the symbols on the door and gain entry to the mysterious tower
Verce decides to scout ahead by examining the gash split into the masonry on the third floor above the rickety scaffolding by circumventing climbing them and flying up instead.
Upon peering into the hole, the party hears the sound of stone beginning to scrape against itself and some loose gravel shifts and falls from somewhere above the second story.

Stat-choo! The Sound of a Sneezing Gargoyle

The stone figures perched upon the four buttresses surrounding the upper second floor exterior are called from their slumber like some ancient granite guardians.
As they swoop towards the companions towards the front of the tower, everyone springs into action...blasting eldritchly, shooting arrowfully, growing huge-fully, and swinging (swordfully?) from spectral wings.
Yevgeni, leaning against the base of the tower, barely conscious, was lucky to avoid detection.
After mopping up the last of the stony combatants, the party makes their way inside.

An Uplifting Experience

The flagstone floor is strewn with debris, and a few old crates stand near the east wall. A torn curtain to the south partially obscures the tower vestibule. The crates in this room are all empty.
A five-foot-square indentation in the center of the floor contains four pulleys attached to taut iron chains that stretch up through a similarly sized hole in the rotted wooden ceiling. Standing next to the chains are four tall clay statues.
Khazan must have warded his tower so that he alone could cast spells near or within it. The effect can be felt by all andis identical to an antimagic field centered on the tower and extending 5 feet from it in all directions.
It appears that Vincenzo wants to use the elevator so the golems lower the platform, then raise it to whichever level he specifies.
The elevator isn't a smooth ride. The platform rises or lowers 5 feet per round, and its movements are jerky.
The party make their way, slowly, to the top floor.

A Hideout!

This room shows signs of recent habitation, and although the place reeks of mold and mildew, it has plenty of creature comforts, including a cozy bed, a desk with matching chair, bright tapestries, and a large iron stove with plenty of wood to feed it.
Light enters through arrow slits as well as through dirt-caked windows with broken shutters. Other features of the room include a standing suit of armor and a wooden chest.
Old wooden rafters bend under the weight of the tower roof, which has somehow remained intact. Mounted to the rafters are pulleys around which hang iron chains that support the tower's elevator platform.
A ten-minute search of the room reveals two clues:
A colorful beaded bracelet with several wooden charms sized for a child, wrapped around a silvered dagger and a Tarokka card...the Hooded One. The party works out that the Hooded One represents mysteries, newcomers, and hidden identities.
Two burned pieces of parchment amidst a pile of charred ashes in the stove, including a burned page from Van Richten's journal and a singed sketch of a sign proclaiming Rictavio’s Carnival of Wonders. (The sketch appears to have been made far more recently than the journal entry.)

A Clue!

As the players search the room, Rumex, who looks out one of the windows toward the east notices something odd: a patch of lily pads approximately fifteen feet from the shore stained a bright, flamboyant yellow, at clear odds with the muted greens of the lily pads nearby.
Wrapping up the investigation of the fourth floor and pocketing the silvered dagger, documents, bracelet and Tarokka card, the companions call the the elevator into use once more.

Report Date

09 Dec 2023

Primary Location

Khazan's Tower

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