Weather: Clear Skies and a Light Breeze
(Night Watch - Resting): With Grabdar
apologizing for not turning their friend into stone, the party spent a restless
night among the trees, driving off insects and moisture. The idea of heading
back into the open with the bats was terrifying. More soul shaking was the
reality that one of their own was gone.
Would one of them be
next?
(Dawn Watch - Travel to the Known): Recouping
from the loss of their trusted companion Nostecaf,
the party was beginning to feel safe enough to emerge from the underbrush. They
were about to head back to his body when they were nearly ambushed by two other
explorers. One of them, Bobah they
recognized as another victim of the Martel company. The second, Eadstart, they soon learned was a guitarist aboard a luxury sailing vessel. He
had been shipwrecked for a few weeks on the island. Eagerly welcoming the new
additions, the party quickly looted Nostecaf and headed off into the woods to
find the tower in the distance.
(Day Watch - Explore a Location): Arriving at
the base of the tower, the party found a campsite set up at the base of basalt
outcropping on which stood the white and gold tower. A broken staircase wrapped
around the tower in some places, and sitting on one section was a set of large
eared, large nosed creatures wreathed in steam. As the party approached the
creatures began jabbering to one another and exchanging something between them.
Introducing themselves, the party found the creatures to be unrepentant
gamblers, willing to gamble on anything. They invited the group to meet The House sometime so that they could get chips
to play with. Looking for one more gamble, the creatures offered to spot the
party some chips if they would go into the tower and find out the current
disposition of the previous group of adventurers that had entered the tower.
Climbing to the top
of the outcropping, 150' in the air, was no simple feat filled with many near
mishaps and injuries. Eventually a rope was secured and everyone was able to
climb to the top of the basalt structure to find themselves on what seems to have
once been a terraced patio perhaps. Looking for an entrance, the party quickly
found that a section of the wall opened up. As soon as it did, they found
themselves facing a statue covered in some kind of orange sludge. The sludge
shrieked with a misshapen mouth while lashing out a with a balled pseudopod.
The statue lunged, attempting to rip the shoes off of Eadstart. The orange
sludge seemed enraged and attacked indiscriminately until finally being put
down. Once everyone took off their shoes, the statue settled down and stopped
bothering them.
Looking at the
statue, the saw that it was shaped like a king, carved crippled and deformed
with no eyes. It seemed to be made of baked and glazed from white clay, then
rudely inked. When it moved it sounded like the breeze moving through young
saplings. It began polishing a glass lenses that it had kept in some kind of
chest cavity.
At the end of the
hall was a dark area with no light. Stepping through, Vladimir found himself in an infinite expanse filled with stars
and comets and moons. After a few hesitant minutes, the rest of the party
joined him in the room. There were no discernable entrances or exits.
Eventually a haze shaped and glowing humanoid figure was visible in the
darkness. Speaking with them, he welcomed them to the Hotel Lapis and offered
to have their luggage taken to their rooms. A door opened on the far wall.
Crossing through it, the party noticed a spider web hanging above the door.
The room they walked
into was a long hallway of white marble. To the left and right were high
lattice work walls carved in an impossible mathemagical fashion. Orange crystal
covered much of the lattice and flooring except in a few locations. Here and
there, tree branches and roots pushed through from the right hand side of the
hall, cracking the lattice and impeding movement down the hall.
Looking through the
holes in the lattice to the right they saw a large garden all carved in white
stone. Numerous stone forest creatures dotted the area, all covered in a thick
layer of orange crystal. A series of large stone bushes with enormous seedpods
lurked in among the foliage of a tree that had worked its way into the building
somehow. To the left of the walkway was a large room filled with chairs, small
tables, ruined shelves and books. The entire area was covered with thick orange
crystal and numerous orange sludge like creature moved throughout the room.
As they were
looking, a large bird like creature spied them, from down the hall and began
beating its wings at the party. Fearing for their lives, the party charged the
beasts. A terrible battle ensued as orange dust from the flapping of its wing
filled the air. Eventually the beast succumbed to numerous wounds and perished.
Looking around the saw the hallway continued forward as well as to the right
and left. Stone stairs, covered in orange crystal flowed downward in the rooms
they had seen previously as well as a two more straight ahead.
While Vladimir
carefully chipped a gold arrow out of the floor in the central area, the rest
of the party investigated. To the left was a third large room. Numerous large
cubes and spheres easily 10' across hung from the ceiling. Each one had a large
whole in its base. Under each sphere was a sunken depression in the ground and
small pedestals sat near each one. They area was covered in orange crystal and
numerous writing sludges. To the right was what appeared to be a large
gymnasium. Archer targets, pummel horses, mirrored walls and orange crystal
covered the area as the orange sludge like creatures slithered across the
floor.
Looking to explore
further, the party headed down in to the stone garden. Rooting through the
place they found a spider web covering the back wall with a single cocooned
form hanging from the webs. Uncertain what to do they struck the web and a few
foot long spiders faded into view. They watch the party for a few minutes
before fading away again. They party moved forward to interact with the cocoon
but found the it was insubstantial. They eventual burnt the web down and opened
up the now physical cocoon to discover the withered husk of a humanoid
creature. They promptly looted the body.
(Day Watch - Explore a Location): Continuing
their exploration of the tower, the party moved carefully forward ten feet.
They spent a lot of time allowing the Vladimir to chip away at the golden
arrows. Eventually, that being done, they quietly snuck down the left hallway
where the light was coming from.
A couple dozen feet
from the area, the smell of carrion rose up choking them. A large glass window
was cracked, allowing light to stream into the building. The floor was covered
with loose leaves and debris. Several of the large bird like creatures rose from
the debris and began to squawk and take aggressive postures. Choosing caution
over bravery, the party retreated back to the center of the room.
Opting to explore to
the right, they moved carefully, aware of the numerous sludges swarming in the
lower areas of the floor behind the lattice work. The found a small room in
fairly reasonable shape. Broken vases covered the floor and a large obsidian block
stood in the middle of the room, with soft light glowing on its sides. Several
couches covered in orange crystal stood in the corners. The back wall of the
room was covered from floor to ceiling in lapis lazuli. Searching the room they
found a several old books, a painting of a woman at a stagnant oasis in a
sandstorm and a small crystal frog in a broken vase.
The Eadstart spent
some time singing to the crystal and was developing a rapport with it. Donjon
investigated the painting. The frame is covered in strange elven glyphs. While
studying the painting, he noticed that the inhabitant moved. Wigged out he put
the painting face down. In the meantime, Vladimir decided that lapis lazuli was
a gem stone and a whole wall of it was worth something. Additionally he wanted
to make a new window in the marble walls of the building. Looking for a weak
spot, he struck it with a piton and warhammer, achieving an amazing success.
The entire veneer came crashing down, revealing the marble wall behind it.
The massive crash of
200 square feet of lapis lazuli crashing to the ground thundered through the
building. The noise was quickly squashed by the cacophany of dozens of sludges
screaming and surging for the creators of the noise. Deciding to move quickly
the party attempted to fly but were cut off. Donjon and Eadstart bolted for the
main doors and made it through where they were instantly assaulted for their
shoes. Vladimir was swarmed by the sludges and fell to their overwhelming
numbers. Seeing their fury fall on his companion, Bobah opted to hide in a
cupboard built into the backside of the obsidian stone.
Donjon scrambled
down the rope to the camp. Eadstart followed him quickly but was trying to hold
on to the vase he had taken for the crystal frog. He slipped and fell 80 feet
to his death, smashing the vase and its contents on the rocks below. A flurry of
activity erupted amongst the steam imps watching.
(Day Watch - Rest): Donjon and Boren setup camp
and wait to see if any of their friends get out. They tell the steam imps that
the other party was eaten, burnt, wrapped in spiders and stabbed. The imps,
pleased at the report pay up the ten chips and depart. They encourage the two
to come visit them at The House sometime.
(Dusk Watch - Rest): Trapped in a cupboard,
Bobah gets a cramp. It's bad.
(Night Watch - Rest): The cramp get worse.
