Session 43: Sorcerer's Citadel

During the downtime, the Abolitionists heard rumors around town. The dwarves of Thunder Mountain found a wizard's tower while they were clearing the island of monsters. Some bandits were operating out of the Dimwash Mire, just west of Roskilde, disrupting trade between the forest and the city. And, of particular relevance to Volodemir, a bag of monsters similar to the one he was looking for had been possessed by a ranger living in the forest, but hasn't been heard of for a while. Some say he was killed by bandits. There was no word on Markessa's whereabouts. The party decided to visit the dwarves, and so they made their way to Thunder Mountain.

The trip to Thunder Mountain was uneventful, and the dwarves were happy to have the party take on the tower. They didn't know what was there, but it appeared to be heavily trap-ridden, "An' we all know how cunning wizard's be, aye?" Making their way along the coast as to make better time than in the hills [yay retcon], the party came across a shipwreck, and they decided to explore with Flint and Lynnya entered the hold where it had been staved in, and the rest of the party exploring the deck. There wasn't much of interest on the deck. The ship appeared to be of southern design, Lyonian or perhaps Solarian, and outfitted with mounted crossbows and ballistae.

Tywyll, who did a heroic amount of lockpicking, unlocked the door to the captain's room, and was nearly surprised when a wight, dressed in captain's clothes, jumped out at him. But with his quick wits, he was able to stab the undead fiend and withdraw behind Goblin, who made quick work of the monster. Below decks, Flint fared worse. He heard Volodemir yell when the wight attacked, and moved into the water so that he could climb a ladder to help. But when he hit the water, 8 lacedons emerged and moved to attack. Fortunately, most went to attack him, but 2 moved towards Lynnya. It was tough going at first, but Goblin and the others were able to make it down to help end the threat. In the water, they found a chest of gems, including a periapt of proof against poison.

Having looted the ship, the Abolitionists made their way to the sorcerer's citadel, seated on top of a tall hill. They ascertained that the exterior was made of a strange, unearthly material and there was only one way in -- a long smooth hallway with animal bones covering the first 40 feet. Flint walked in, and immediately felt a strange tingling in his feet, as if the hall was poisoning him. He kept going, trusting his dwarven constitution to keep him from harm. As he moved down the passage, he took a bit of damage, but nothing he couldn't handle. After 180 feet, he ran into an invisible wall, with bird skeletons scattered around the bottom of it. He felt around the wall, and found a door. He opened it, and instantly the tunnel was filled with noxious fumes. Flint ran back to the rest of the party, but was noticeably weakened by the experience. The party discussed how best to proceed, and decided that Volodemir would cast fly on himself, and levitate on Goblin, Tywyll, and Lynnya, pulling them along, while Flint would run quickly. They did so, and were successful at entering the tower.

The first level of the tower was a storage room, while the second was a finely appointed sitting chamber. On the third level they found some sort of alchemy lab. A secret compartment in one of the cabinets contained a safe, which Tywyll was able to disarm and unlock. Inside was some gold, a few potions, and a black talisman on an adamant chain. The next level was a bedroom, with blue lotus flowers in vases around the room. A woman was lying on the bed, and greeted the party with a sarcastic "Aren't you a little short to be adventurers?" to which the 7' tall Goblin shrugged. Before she could say anything else, Volodemir cast Tasha's Hideous Laughter, and before they could blink, Melissa was on the floor laughing for a straight minute. The party blinked at each other, not knowing what to do. One minute passed, and as the spell wore off, the pollen of the flowers took effect. Goblin became convinced Volodemir was a devil, and Tywyll collapsed in despair. After the first round, however, they managed to shake off the effects.

The Abolitionists have been in worse fights, but this is definitely a tough one, as the Erinyes focuses her attacks on the bard who attacked her first...

Session 24: Behind the Crystal Waterfall

Having killed the worms, Flint was able to retrieve the hammer at the crystal bridge. After a short rest to allow Flint to become familiar with the new weapon, the group continued through the dwarven keep. The group made its way slowly south, going through many a burnt and rotten door and taking great care not to set off traps or to walk into an ambush. Deep inside the keep the group entered a room where the floor had collapsed. Not able to see the bottom of the cavern the group smelt the rot coming from the dark abyss below. Along the way the group came across some ghouls and shadow demons but with the gods' help and a strong arm they were able to dispatch the foe. Eventually the group reached a dead end and were forced to turn back. Seizing on the opportunity the group decided to head back via a different route. They returned to a series of doors they had recently passed, finding that the last door was rotten and hanging from its hinges. Assuming that this was the work of a fire breathing beast somewhere in the keep the group entered into the room. They found themselves in a very large room with three exits and a giant statue of a dwarf in the middle. As they headed for one of the exits the statue turned suddenly and attacked. Not wanting to fight, the group ran towards the exit but the goliath wasn't quick enough to evade the stony grasp of the statue. Asking Vassa to intercede on his behalf Goblin cursed the statue and hit it with a thunderous strike. The statue released it's grip on Goblin and he took the opportunity to catch up with the group, which meanwhile had fled to a set of stairs leading to a double doorway.  Where this leads we shall soon find out.....