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- Calliope Laurelleaf – Halfling Bard
- Ellyjobell – Gnome Ranger
- Phalen – High Elf Cleric
- Talerien – Wood Elf Ranger
- Trogdorr – Dragonborn Barbarian
- Twirpo – Hill Dwarf Wizard
- Alaric Lysane – Human Fighter
This adventures ties back to a previous adventure with the party, when the party had gone to the mining town and fought several undead, including the medic who had gotten a hold of an ancient staff from the Broken Lands that warped him and drove him mad. The party handed the staff (reluctantly) to a Black Dragon (Onyx) who swore they’d destroy it; instead Onyx resurrected his deceased brother (Ebony) who sought the two hunters (who were hinted at when the party first arrived at Spire’s Edge and Trogdorr had spoken to a tavern owner who had collected mounted heads of various beasts; but sold them for gold, to help fund the repairs in the city; one of those heads had been that of a Black Dragon, killed by two hunters). The two bodies on the front gate were the two hunters that had killed Ebony, that it tracked to Lakefront.
This is also a direct continuation of what happened Last Time on D&D.
With the Undead Black Dragon (Ebony) (Note: Picture shows undead blue; but the visual is the same, except for the scale color) slain (yet again), the refugees return to Lakefront and begin to sift through the rubble, looking for other survivors, as well as those who were not accounted for and potentially dead from Ebony’s attack on Lakefront. During this time, one of the residents, thanking the party, informs Talerien (noticing he used a bow) that one of the slain hunters had a very ornate bow that he was having Darius Blackmane, an odd, older, reclusive and eccentric wizard who build a Wizard’s Tower in Lakefront as a “home base” for exploring the Broken Lands, often booking passage on the many ships that docked in Lakefront.
Ellyjobel and Twirpo explain that there’s a great need to go into the Wizard’s Tower as well; as they had accidentally “awakened” an old enemy (previous adventure with the party) because Ellyjobel had taken the skull of the creature, unaware that it required something specific to permanently destroy it; and once it got near a Soul Crystal, it had sensed the power and awakened it. When Elly had tried to destroy the skull before the body had reformed, she failed and accidentally knocked it down the stairs, further down into the Wizard’s Tower. However, before anything could be done, that’s when Ebony had attacked.
Determining that the “Undead Medic” being in a Wizard’s tower was a great risk, the party decided not to rest and took to using quite a few healing potions to recover health; and worry about recovering spells later.
As the party descended down the spiraling staircase of the Wizard’s Tower, after clearing some of the rubble; led by Ellyjobel, followed by Trogdorr, Alaric, Twirpo, Phalen, Calliope, and finally Talerien. Elly heard someone shouting, “Where is the staff?” (The “Undead Medic” awakening in an unfamiliar place; and no memory after his “second demise” in the mining caves). Elly shouted down the spiral stairs, “The dragon took it!” Which immediately got the attention of the “Undead Medic” whose corporeal body and flaming skull rushed up the stairs and attacked the party (recognizing them as the ones who had attacked him in the mines). The Undead Medic was able to cast Magic Missile and strike Trogdorr (the visibly “biggest” threat in front of him) for a large amount of damage, before Phalen was able to turn the undead and force the Undead Medic to flee from her, further down the Wizard’s tower again.
The party gave pursuit with Elly leading the way with her mastiff, Bubbles. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, it was a 60′ rectangular room with a hallway on the opposite side. She noticed a mirror directly by the stairs and told Bubbles not to look at it; however, as he passed it, a Shadow Mastiff appeared. The others came down the stairs and Phalen was able to cast light on her shield, which allowed the party to quickly dispatch the Shadow Mastiff. Elly had noticed a pressure plate trap in the room but had forgotten about it after the battle, and everyone crossing it took a large amount of electrical damage.
Reaching the hallway, two apparitions appeared which were Sword Wraith Warriors, however, the ever charming Calliope was able to speak with them; recognizing them as the hunters who had been slain by Ebony. She spoke to them about how she too suffered at the hands of Ebony, showing where she’d been burned by the black dragon’s acidic breath. The apparitions asked her their intentions, and she explained they just needed to get rid of the “Undead Medic”; the apparitions explain that it went further down the hall and with that allowed the party to pass.
They next reached a dead end room with a podium in the center that had a large, mechanical cobra sitting on it. The Undead Medic was on the other side, still trying to escape Phalen. Elly went after the Undead Medic, which inadvertently triggered the mechanical snake, called an Iron Cobra. The party now found itself fighting two enemies. The Undead Medic focuses a fireball directly on the podium where most of the party is near; and lands an incredible amount of damage, both to the party and the Iron Cobra. The party does take more damage, but eventually defeats both the Undead Medic (again) and the Iron Cobra. (They do not, however, do what it takes to permanently keep the Undead Medic down; so he will rise again…)
The party finds that there’s a secret door on the wall and discover that the Iron Cobra was a guardian for the door (had they not triggered it first) when Twirpo’s dwarven skills catch that one of the bricks in the wall is a pressure plate. Elly spots a trap and realizes that there’s a combination to pushing the bricks. When the door opens, they spot a Berbalang, who quickly darts away running in a specific pattern on marked stones that have the symbols of a Lion, Tiger, Wolf and Dragon.
A few party members try to mimic the ones he jumped on to get to the door on the other side; and fail, taking shots from arrows tipped with poison that cause Disorientation. After a few had tried it, Twirpo figured out the pattern – but cast Blade Ward on herself and proceeded to successfully cross the trapped tiles. Upon reaching the other side the Berbalang had magically opened a portal bringing down a Flail Snail. Badly wounded already, the party needed a heal, so Calliope cast Leomund’s Tiny Hut so that she and Phalen could cast a spell that would heal most of the party members. Unfortunately the Flail Snail, with little room to maneuver and chasing the party members outside the hut ended up slithering on top of the hut, where it ironically finally met its demise; creating a situation of dispelling the hut and being squashed by the giant snail. Trogdorr chopped up the flail snail and managed to pull it off of the hut. Phalen was able to cast her healing spell. The party enters the final chamber; a dead end where a misty, black smoke-like humanoid seemed to be arguing with a demon; with a magical book floating between them; which turned out to be an Allip and a Bulezu (Demon). Believing the party was there for the book, the Allip and Bulezu set their differences aside and focused their attacks on the party members. Alaric managed to get by the Allip and tried to destroy the magical book, striking it hard with his own magical weapon; which caused a Concussive Blast that knocked party members back (and damaged then, even stunning a few of them). However, in the end, they were able to defeat the Allip, and then focus on the Bulezu and defeat it.
Twirpo took the magical book and tried to decipher it but it was written in an ancient language she was not familiar with (though it resembled Elvish; and had the face of a ghostly elf on the cover). Once outside of the tower, Calliope used Thunderwave to seal the tower’s stairwell once again. In the meantime, Twirpo made some contacts and learned more about the ancient tome. Through her contacts she learned Darius Blackmane had read the entire tome, undoubtedly, and uncovered a powerful secret that destroyed his body and mind and cursed him into an Allip form; and the Bulezu demon learning of the tome’s existence had wanted it for himself for nefarious reasons. One of the things Twirpo noted was the constant frantic scribblings of a skull with a gem in one of the eye sockets, on almost every single page… and each page seems to have a more frantic… disconnected look to the drawing…