Ep. 308 Nightmare Before Christmas
General Summary
The Tower of Terror patiently awaits our intrepid adventurers. With their enemy flown off, following the party's false lead, the danger has significantly lessened. And now they take their first steps into the enemies lair to rescue their kidnapped friend.
The foyer presents to be a puzzle room, but one that the party figures out easily and quickly. They push and spin the statues with mirrors and alight the lanterns around the room to trigger a mechanism that reveals a bronze key to them. On the opposite side of the room, there is a small room with a panel of 5 keyholes. Placing the first key into the top hole triggers the fantasy elevator and up our party goes into the spooky tower.
The next room they step out into is filled with cages; their occupants soon revealed to be two displacer beasts that freely roam the room. The battle with Aviontorin's pet cats is harrowing, but our party is able to emerge victorious. Luckily Flint knows how to use fire to heal, but Billy has to close his eyes for that. Upon searching the room, they learn more about Aviontorin's dealings with the mages, and can safely assume (after putting her ring on her finger) that one of Quinn's arms had been severed and fed to the cats as food. The question is, was there more of her here before the party arrived?
A second bronze key found in Quinn's clasped fingers takes the party up into the next floor of the tower. Here the horrors only get worse. A room filled with horrific instruments and splattered in blood awaits the party to investigate.
At the other end of the room sits a wood desk with a small chair and collection of papers on it. They find a rather large cage and next to that is a table with a satchel on it. To the left of that sits a strange machine. It has a wooden seat at the center of it and straps and shackles around the bottom, the back, and on the arm rests. Behind it on hinges sit huge blades. Avoiding the machine entirely, Flint goes to investigate the table and Farryn the desk. Flint is drawn to the satchel, which sports a grim and snarling face. After it starts to speak to him however, Flint very uneasily and quietly sets it back down. He picks it up later to use as a tool, but that doesn't mean he's happy about it.
At Aviontorin's desk, Farryn discovered a coded lock that requires 5 numbers to open. Using the scattered papers and notes, the party puts together the code fairly quickly. But not without some loss of sanity as they gain more knowledge into the doings of Aviontorin's torture here in the tower.
The third bronze key brings the party up to what seems like the topmost floor of the tower. Here they find an almost completely normal bedchamber. Nothing interesting here, save for some valuable loot. The party of course clears most of this room out before finding the fourth bronze key. Using this in the fantasy elevator starts to bring the party down; further down than even the ground level of the tower. After an indescribable amount of time, the elevator finally clunks to a stop and the party steps out into the dungeons.
Along the walls beside the hall, suspended a few feet off the ground are cell bars behind which cower groups of huddling mages. The cages aren’t more than 4 feet in height so most of the 40-or so mages inside are kneeling. A wood elf crawls forward to ask who they are, what they are doing, and where Aviontorin is. Uncertainty fills the hearts of the mages as our party promises to save them; as their time here has only diminished any sliver of hope. When asked about Quinn, the wood elf points them to the end of the hall towards another room, where mages seldom make it out alive and Aviontorin's monstrous assistant resides. But this won't stop our heroic party! Off they march to stop these horrors and save their friend!
The battle is grand and ruthless; Aviontorin's assistant - a monstrous flesh golem - proves to be a formidable foe. With his tremendous strength and the help of 4 unwilling mages (one being a one-armed Quinn), the golem nearly gets the best of our party. A massive machine is used to torture the mages and forces them to use their magic to help the golem in multiple ways, such as striking down his enemies or healing him as they slowly ebb at his health.
After cleverly surmising that their first attacks should be targeted at the machine, the party pulls out all of their most powerful spells to take the golem down.
Farryn summons tentacles of shadow and a beast of Hell.
Baelie tethers his magic to his companions and heightens their powers.
Flint blasts the golem with the most powerful fire he can summon, and even rises back to his feet twice after nearly dying. The party falters with horror as their companion falls, but he is not easily taken down.
The golem finally falls as it is struck with Shadow of Moil, crumbling into a heap of flesh at the foot of its shuddering and sparking machine. The party rushes to free the tortured mages, and an emotional Quinn falls into their arms. The rest of the mages, the party finds, are weak, their spirits broken and their bodies mangled. Most are without arms or legs, and others miss their tongues. And worst of all, by destroying the golems machine, the party had destroyed the mechanism for the elevator. How were they going to escape with 40+ dying mages?
Climb ropes out?
Use the immovable rod?
Fly out?
Summon help?
Get help from Husoris?
Eventually they come to the conclusion they must summon help. First Tarbohom, whisked into the room by the spectral visions of his brothers, eagerly awaits directions in order to help his tribe. Second Dyorin, stepping through a portal, appears before them and thoroughly terrifies every mage that sees his similarities to Aviontorin.
With the help of their summoned friends, the party teleports each of the mages to the Temple of Glaymoris in Keryn. Except for Quinn, who clings to Farryn and asks to return to Ringwe'Eska with them. Once the other mages are safe, the party is teleported to Ringwe'Eska to begin their road to healing.
Days have passed, nearly a week, and now it is the Day of Creation. The Bros have set up a party for our... party. Something to being normalcy back into their lives. Rorik, Strezik, Ler and his kids, Gale and Carric are all here to celebrate the party and welcome the New Year. Even Quinn and Dyorin, released from the temples infirmary, make an appearance to enjoy the company of friends.
Aviontorin is still on the loose, but the party will not let him escape for all the deeds he has done. They will find him. After all, they are heroes.
The foyer presents to be a puzzle room, but one that the party figures out easily and quickly. They push and spin the statues with mirrors and alight the lanterns around the room to trigger a mechanism that reveals a bronze key to them. On the opposite side of the room, there is a small room with a panel of 5 keyholes. Placing the first key into the top hole triggers the fantasy elevator and up our party goes into the spooky tower.
The next room they step out into is filled with cages; their occupants soon revealed to be two displacer beasts that freely roam the room. The battle with Aviontorin's pet cats is harrowing, but our party is able to emerge victorious. Luckily Flint knows how to use fire to heal, but Billy has to close his eyes for that. Upon searching the room, they learn more about Aviontorin's dealings with the mages, and can safely assume (after putting her ring on her finger) that one of Quinn's arms had been severed and fed to the cats as food. The question is, was there more of her here before the party arrived?
I need to get better with my notes. Start taking more down, keeping better track of things. Not that I’m forgetful, I just can’t risk this being lost to time or a stupid mistake. It’ll just be good to write my thoughts down. That being said, I have discovered that the parts I’ve taken off do not contain any magical source of their own. It’s more than disappointing, I was so hoping they’d be useful. I suppose they can just be disposed of. Using them to feed the cats might make them like me more. One tried to take a swipe at me and I nearly bashed a paw in. Not like they’d notice if they lost one, anyway.
- Aviontorin's Second Note
A second bronze key found in Quinn's clasped fingers takes the party up into the next floor of the tower. Here the horrors only get worse. A room filled with horrific instruments and splattered in blood awaits the party to investigate.
At the other end of the room sits a wood desk with a small chair and collection of papers on it. They find a rather large cage and next to that is a table with a satchel on it. To the left of that sits a strange machine. It has a wooden seat at the center of it and straps and shackles around the bottom, the back, and on the arm rests. Behind it on hinges sit huge blades. Avoiding the machine entirely, Flint goes to investigate the table and Farryn the desk. Flint is drawn to the satchel, which sports a grim and snarling face. After it starts to speak to him however, Flint very uneasily and quietly sets it back down. He picks it up later to use as a tool, but that doesn't mean he's happy about it.
At Aviontorin's desk, Farryn discovered a coded lock that requires 5 numbers to open. Using the scattered papers and notes, the party puts together the code fairly quickly. But not without some loss of sanity as they gain more knowledge into the doings of Aviontorin's torture here in the tower.
...It held down a fighting and kicking half-elf the other day. She uses her magic differently. I should keep an eye on 179. She tried to hit me with radiant powers, it made me laugh.
-Excerpt of Aviontorin's Sixth Note
179 is proving very interesting. She clearly channels through her body differently and uses magic more physically. It adds a lot to the findings. She was rather Zen when the monster put her in the machine. She remained vaguely Zen when her left arm was removed at the elbow- trying not to scream too much. I hope she stays alive long enough to make some real findings. I like her spunk, she keeps encouraging the other mages to escape and giving them hope. She’s fun to play with. I think she’ll be fun to break.
-Aviontorin's Seventh Note
The third bronze key brings the party up to what seems like the topmost floor of the tower. Here they find an almost completely normal bedchamber. Nothing interesting here, save for some valuable loot. The party of course clears most of this room out before finding the fourth bronze key. Using this in the fantasy elevator starts to bring the party down; further down than even the ground level of the tower. After an indescribable amount of time, the elevator finally clunks to a stop and the party steps out into the dungeons.
Along the walls beside the hall, suspended a few feet off the ground are cell bars behind which cower groups of huddling mages. The cages aren’t more than 4 feet in height so most of the 40-or so mages inside are kneeling. A wood elf crawls forward to ask who they are, what they are doing, and where Aviontorin is. Uncertainty fills the hearts of the mages as our party promises to save them; as their time here has only diminished any sliver of hope. When asked about Quinn, the wood elf points them to the end of the hall towards another room, where mages seldom make it out alive and Aviontorin's monstrous assistant resides. But this won't stop our heroic party! Off they march to stop these horrors and save their friend!
The battle is grand and ruthless; Aviontorin's assistant - a monstrous flesh golem - proves to be a formidable foe. With his tremendous strength and the help of 4 unwilling mages (one being a one-armed Quinn), the golem nearly gets the best of our party. A massive machine is used to torture the mages and forces them to use their magic to help the golem in multiple ways, such as striking down his enemies or healing him as they slowly ebb at his health.
After cleverly surmising that their first attacks should be targeted at the machine, the party pulls out all of their most powerful spells to take the golem down.
Farryn summons tentacles of shadow and a beast of Hell.
Baelie tethers his magic to his companions and heightens their powers.
Flint blasts the golem with the most powerful fire he can summon, and even rises back to his feet twice after nearly dying. The party falters with horror as their companion falls, but he is not easily taken down.
The golem finally falls as it is struck with Shadow of Moil, crumbling into a heap of flesh at the foot of its shuddering and sparking machine. The party rushes to free the tortured mages, and an emotional Quinn falls into their arms. The rest of the mages, the party finds, are weak, their spirits broken and their bodies mangled. Most are without arms or legs, and others miss their tongues. And worst of all, by destroying the golems machine, the party had destroyed the mechanism for the elevator. How were they going to escape with 40+ dying mages?
Climb ropes out?
Use the immovable rod?
Fly out?
Summon help?
Get help from Husoris?
Eventually they come to the conclusion they must summon help. First Tarbohom, whisked into the room by the spectral visions of his brothers, eagerly awaits directions in order to help his tribe. Second Dyorin, stepping through a portal, appears before them and thoroughly terrifies every mage that sees his similarities to Aviontorin.
With the help of their summoned friends, the party teleports each of the mages to the Temple of Glaymoris in Keryn. Except for Quinn, who clings to Farryn and asks to return to Ringwe'Eska with them. Once the other mages are safe, the party is teleported to Ringwe'Eska to begin their road to healing.
Days have passed, nearly a week, and now it is the Day of Creation. The Bros have set up a party for our... party. Something to being normalcy back into their lives. Rorik, Strezik, Ler and his kids, Gale and Carric are all here to celebrate the party and welcome the New Year. Even Quinn and Dyorin, released from the temples infirmary, make an appearance to enjoy the company of friends.
Aviontorin is still on the loose, but the party will not let him escape for all the deeds he has done. They will find him. After all, they are heroes.
Rewards Granted
450 gp
450 sp
A wand, an aggressive wand
(will need appraisal/attunement)
A silver rod with a button and horses apparently: immovable rod
Cloak and pendant
Freshly skinned Displacer Beasts
Bag of Devouring
LEVEL UP - 9!!
450 sp
A wand, an aggressive wand
(will need appraisal/attunement)
A silver rod with a button and horses apparently: immovable rod
Cloak and pendant
Freshly skinned Displacer Beasts
Bag of Devouring
LEVEL UP - 9!!
Missions/Quests Completed
Save the mages!
Character(s) interacted with
Quinn Putnam
Dad
Daddy
Tarbohom
Rorik (Through Sending)
Bag of Devouring
Dad
Daddy
Tarbohom
Rorik (Through Sending)
Bag of Devouring
Notes
Some absolutely fantastic quotes:
"I use Farryn as my genie vessel" - Billy
"Don't you need consent for that?" - DM
"FARRYN Can I use spells from where YOU are?!"- Billy
"...I guess" - Farryn
“I tried to stay AWAY from her arms after I heard she punched someone to death.” - Flint
“I wish we saved that arm to see if we can attach it later” - I blocked whoever this was from my memory because OHmygod; probably Farryn
“Hey Flint! This is gonna get weird! Be my Genie vessel!” - Billy
"Ok" - Flint
“So, how are you going to get all of us out?” - unnamed Wood Elf mage
“......I’m going to ignore that” - Billy
"Dyorin can teleport-" - Billy
"Yeah but give Tarb enough days and he can build a ladder" - Flint
“He’ll bring breakfast, it’ll be fine” - Farryn
I’m going to turn around while everyone is distracted by Tarb’s appearance….. And blow on the Dyorin Stone
-Justin
I take out the immovable rod :D
-Tom
“Your brothers fucked up” - Farryn
“I know, he stabbed me!” - Dyorin
“But like you also are fucked up” - Farryn
“Farryn congrats, you have a girlfriend” - Billy
“I think we just went steady?” - DM
Report Date
26 Oct 2020
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