The Saturday Game 3/30/19 – Reflections
Note: The Druid was unable to attend.
We finish exploration of this level of the tower. On the ledge where we battled the mind flayer, we find a secret door leading to a hall with two passages to the south and one to the east. At the end of the southern passages are levers that when pulled, open hidden doors leading to the small room and the library. The passage east ends in stars down to a room with a narrow ledge around the walls surrounding a deep pit. The Luchador casts a light spell on a pebble and tosses it into the pit. There is a distinct clang and then the light continues to fall. The Monk jumps down to investigate and finds a metal grate at the bottom. Below the grate, he hears water rushing and smells the scent of saltwater. Suddenly, the Monk vanishes only to reappear in one of the pits of dead bodies in the charnel room. He makes his way back to the party to tell them this must be a magical disposal system for the tower.
Back in the library, we ascend the spiral steps and appear in the southeast corner of a room. On the western wall, six alcoves stand with a large mirror in each. The Paper Merchant carefully searches for secrets or traps and finds none. The Warlock touches one of the mirrors. Suddenly, grinding sounds emerge from the mirrors as glass shards extrude to form themselves into three glass spiders and one twelve-foot-tall glass figure. As we attack, someone yells, “Focus on physical damage in case they reflect our spells back onto us!” Almost as a response, the figure throws glass shards at the Luchador, Monk and Warrior Princess.
There is an expanded discussion on what constitutes the circumference of a spell.
The fight continues with some of us getting hits in while some of us get shards of glass thrown at us. Just as the figure is beginning to look harried, it melts back into the mirror with a grating sound. The Luchador attacks the mirror in hopes that destroying it will thwart the return of the glass monster while all others focus attention on the spiders. With a final war cry, the Warrior Princess hits a spider and it explodes. We attempt to avoid the shards that fly and settle on the floor around us.
As the first spider shatters, the glass figure comes back out of the mirror. Someone shouts, “Do you think that healed it?” Everyone is hitting mirrors in hopes of destroying the entrance and escape for the monsters.
There is an extended discussion of how the AC of the mirrors is only 4 so stop asking the DM every time you roll attacks. Really, only 4!
The Luchador grapples the figure for the second time. As the Paper Merchant is hitting mirror number 4, glass tentacles begin reaching out into the room. The Monk hits and shatters mirror 5. The Warrior Princess strikes, and shatters mirror 2. The Bard hits 1 and it shatters. The figure throws more shards30. The Monk fumbles falling onto shards. The Warrior Princess heals him. The Paper Merchant finally shatters mirror 4 and turns to do a sneak attack on the glass monster. The Warlock witch bolts and shatters mirror 3. The Cleric throws out a Beacon of Hope because we are hurting badly, and it will advantage all healing spells. With an unlikely and mighty whack of her sword, the Bard shatters the glass monster for twenty-eight points of damage. The flying shards kill our cleric and there goes the Beacon of Hope.
Why do we let our cleric die every single time?
The Cleric makes a successful death save, but is quickly healed to rejoin battle and casts Mass Healing. The Monk takes down the final spider. Spider number two also died somewhere in that mess, but your Bard was busy smashing mirrors to note who got the kill.
Aside: After breaking enough mirrors to insure forty-two years of bad luck, the DM divulges that this is a control room. Each of the six command words on the scroll we discovered (Avail, Bewilder, Conquer, Dismay, Entreat, Forget) operated one of the mirrors providing a view into another part of the tower. Sorry, creepy Necromancer drow elves for breaking your CCTV system!
The Sorcerer discovers a secret door leading north from this room. Opening it reveals a corridor leading to an enormous open chamber at the top of the Necromancer Spire. Arrayed before the party are six grimlocks wielding great axes. Some distance behind them is a cloaked figure. The figure pulls its hood down to reveal a female Yuan-ti Medusa; the source of those many petrified statues along the way. The Luchador strikes one of the grimlocks and knocks it prone. The Monk, closing his eyes to avoid her gaze, attacks the Medusa. The rest of the party enters the room and aligns themselves on the back wall focusing on the grimlocks and avoiding the Medusa. The Medusa casts a spell and two grimlocks disappear. The Paper Merchant fells one grimlock while the Luchador kills another. The grimlocks, alive and dead, all then explode into a fountain of blood to reform into an enormous golem, a Blood Hulk.
The Paper Merchant throws his curious snake figurine towards the Medusa and instantly it transforms into a snake. The Paper Merchant commands, “Kill the snake lady!” The Warrior Princess and the Luchador trade hits with the Blood Hulk and we notice it is taking physical damage as bloody wounds open further with each strike. The Cleric, finally in a room with a ceiling high enough, calls lighting upon the Medusa with the rain obscuring her gaze upon the party. Disadvantaged by his closed eyes, the Monk struggles, but finally hits the Medusa. She hits back and he falls to the ground. The Sorcerer, running out of spells, can only heal him for eight points. The Cleric calls upon the elements once more. Finally, whispering the words of her spell, the Warlock unleashes one final blast to the Medusa. As she falls, the Blood Hulk explodes, and all falls silent.
In the aftermath, we are horrified to see that the Paper Merchant and the Cleric have stiffened to stone, the determined focus of battle captured in their faces. Saddened and confused, some search the room for loot while others prepare our friends for transport back to Pearl in hopes of finding magic that will free them from their stone form.
On the Medusa herself, we find three scrolls as follows:
Lord Gazaron,
Hail the Vanguard of Sertrous!
As you see, I am good to my word. Through Fadheela, I have sent you the bones and most of the items you requested. I still search for Merthúvial as I write this—the blade is hidden well. I hope
the Vanguard is pleased.
You would do well, my lord, to consider your contract with the hobgoblin mercenaries breached. The brutes went on a looting spree that almost compromised the entire mission. Should you desire it, I volunteer to deal with Krootad—their leader, the priest of Hextor, if you remember—myself.
—Xeron
Fadheela,
You have our thanks for sending the bones and items to us here in the fortress. With the king’s bones in hand, the prophecy is about to be bent to the will of the Vanguard of Sertrous! However, two of the items are missing from what you sent—Merthúvial and Banrhialorg. Please explain this discrepancy.
—Gazaron
Gazaron,
That fool Xeron never sent Merthúvial as he promised he would, nor has he arrived in Pedestal to deliver it to me. That’s your mess to clean. His worthless lackeys tried to withhold the items you wanted until their master arrived, so you got what you have only because I brook no defiance. The sword might still show up, or Xeron is dead. I do not know which is likely, nor do I care. I am taking the staff as my own, and if you want it, you’ll have to face me. I’ve sent the bones and other weapons along. Count yourself lucky I did not reserve anything else for myself.
—Fadheela
In the loot, we find a gold rod topped by an open snake’s head, a blue agate affixed to its mouth. Could this be the Banrhialorg staff? Our suspicions of Merthúvial being a weapon appear confirmed and it remains lost. As we arrive back to the Spicy Unicorn Inn, our home base in Pearl, the party needs to attend to its two friends and ponder what to do next once they are cured and recuperate. Do we now search for Gazaron? The price of preventing this ritual prophecy has already been high. Should we even choose to pursue it further? In any case, we have reached a milestone of experience.
From her seat near the fire, the Tielfling Bard finishes the song. She looks up and her white eyes survey the tavern common room. The hour is late so most of the locals have gone home. Travelers with an early start went to their rooms long ago. The remaining patrons are deep in their cups dozing off. She reaches for the jar containing donations and dumps them into a bag she hides in her blouse. Draining her tankard of ale and with a curt nod to the innkeeper behind the bar, she gathers her belongings and heads to her night’s rest. This chapter of the tale is done.