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• Aros – Lightfoot Halfling, Rogue
• Galiena Erenaeth – Half Elf, Celestial Warlock / Druid
• Baldur – Human, Pack Chain Warlock (Spear) / Paladin
  • Hellina Kaitlyn Deramu – Human NPC, Wererat
• Wickedstraza – Dragonborn (Bronze), Sorcerer (Draconic Bloodline) – Not present

Note: Last Session (Session 13) we ended on the cliff hanger of Aros failing his stealth check while Baldur was busy immitating Razathorn in front of these unusual Dragonborn looking humanoids – and so this session began with combat!

Aros leaps out of the bushes and tries to strike the Draconian down; but having heard the snap of the branch was ready for Aros and stepped away. Aros quickly scrambled to his feet and dove behind Baldur to hide behind.

Seeing Aros near the edge of the tower – the Draconian Mage gives a closer look at Baldur – and sees through his disguise and proceeds to casts Shrink on Baldur, who screams in fury – the pitch of his voice going up as his body shrinks down to the height of Aros! (Failed Savings Throw)

Aros shouts, “Baldur! I was using you to hide behind!”

“I didn’t mean for this to happen!” Baldur squeaks. “He shrunk me!”

Approximately sixty feet away, Ramgor turns to Galiena. “This isn’t going as well as we’d hoped.”

“When does it ever,” Galiena sighed. “We’d better get up there.” Both Galiena and Ramgor move up, and draw their crossbows – as they both fire at the Draconian, both Galiena and Ramgor miss. “Well, this is going how I expected it to.” Despite the clear danger, Ramgor flashes Galiena a smile.

Baldur shouts, “I will make you pay for what you’ve done!” And stabs the Draconian with his spear; and realizes in his reduced size that he’s not able to inflict as much damage as he normally would.

Despite the numerous hits the Draconian takes, it’s easily able to continue its concentration, keeping Baldur in a reduced state. Aros hears something large approaching and tells Baldur, “Something’s coming.”

“Probably the other damn Draconian,” Baldur growls.

“We need to finish this,” Aros growls and springs forward and manages to stab the Draconian in the leg, cutting deep and inflicting plenty of damage, followed by Galiena landing a powerful Witch Bolt that does significant damage to the Draconian.

Seeing that they’ve worn the Draconian down – Aros runs up and springs off of Baldur’s shoulders (who is still in his shrunken state) and leaps forward – but slips (failed Athletics check) and rather than stabbing the Draconian between the eyes as he’d intended – he doesn’t get the height he had hoped and plunges his dagger into the Draconian’s throat where his body weight slowly carries him downward – slowly cutting the Draconian’s guts open. (DM Note – Aros had actually killed the Draconian and I asked how he had wanted to kill him; and he mentioned leaping off Baldur’s shoulders – so for fun, had him do an Athletics check to see how graceful it was)

Baldur and Aros notice that something seems to be going on with the Draconian’s corpse and are able to dodge as its body explodes, sending shards of bone fragments as shrapnel. Just as they stand up – the Draconian Foot Soldier who’d left to fetch the Yew wood for the staff (under the Command spell from Baldur last session) looks and sees the explosive remains of his comrade and looks at Baldur who is slowly returning to his normal size, his Razathorn disguise disheveled and tries to lie and say, “He disobeyed my command! He had to perish!” However, despite the low intelligence of the Foot Soldier, he sees through the lie and begins swinging the large yew wood branch like a club.

Baldur shouts behind him, “I thought you and your druid senses said there was no yew wood on this island!”

“I hadn’t seen any!” Galiena shouted back. “Now concentrate on the fight!”

Galiena tries to cast Witch Bolt again – but the surprise arrival of the foot soldier throws her off – and the Witch Bolt misfires – striking Baldur instead! (Critical Fail) Baldur turns and scorns Galiena, “That was for the stupid druid comment, wasn’t it?”

“No,” Galiena shouts, then turns to Ramgor and smiles, “Maybe…” Ramgor roars in laughter; having grown closer and closer to Galiena each passing night, each passing moment; as well as regarding the others as friends. Ramgor fires his crossbow and hits the Draconian – who looks across the way, spotting Galiena and Ramgor.

Baldur lunges with the butt end of his spear – but still shaken up by the Witch Bolt spell he’d been hit with – Baldur hits the Draconian – but hits the breast plate, which makes him fumble the attack, accidentally stabbing Aros behind him. (Critical Fail)

“We keep hitting each other,” growls Aros as once again, he runs up Baldur’s (now normal sized back) and leaps at the Draconian Foot Soldier and manages to successfully stab it between the eyes. Again – they see the body shivering – and quickly get out of the way expecting more bone shards – but upon it’s death explosion – it releases gas into the air, that they’re able to avoid.

Search what remains of the exploded remains; Aros finds a hand sized cube with a single rune on it.

Baldur looks at Aros and then the cube in his hand. “I bet this won’t come up on the rune,” he says, “I bet 1 gold.” Aros agrees – and rolls the cube on the floor, and it doesn’t land on the rune. (DM Note – We had Baldur roll a D6 – with the rune being the “6” – and he’d rolled a 5). Ramgor examines it (DM Note – rest of the party failed their Arcana check – by a lot) and realizes – upon looking at the wall behind them on the tower – a small cube, about the same size as the cube. Galiena grabs the yew branch and balances the cube on it and places it into the wall – but it falls. She tries a second time, and succeeds – and suddenly what appeared to be a wall – suddenly opens up revealing a long, dark, hallway that is poorly lit – and a chilling breeze comes from inside the tower.

Galiena points to Aros, “Can you check for traps?”

“I am not a fan of wizard towers,” Aros admits. “I mean, the whole reason I am stuck here is because I tried to steal from Mordak.”

“Razathorn,” Baldur corrects.

“They’re the same person,” Galiena comments.

Aros halfheartedly peeks inside the hallway and says, “Yup, no traps,” and steps back.

“Shouldn’t you go first?” Galiena asks.

“Why?” Aros asks.

“To see if there’s traps,” Galiena points out.

Baldur edges through the hall, trying to walk in – as if he belongs there – and peeks into the large room ahead – where he can hear a voice about guarding the tower. What he sees shocks him – a large orb with four eye stalks.

Knowing they need to get to the third floor – Baldur looks around and spots the stairs – but also spots another problem. Laying at the base of the stairs is a large green guard drake – which Baldur knows from his time as a servant of Mordak/Razathorn – that guard drakes are made through dark rituals that require dragonscales – not that there was any doubt to Crescent (the Moonstone Dragon) – but this seems to lend further proof that Razathorn is doing something with dragons… and the Draconians are creatures that none of them had seen before.

Baldur looks at the others, “We are not going to get past them with my disguise. We might be able to fool the floating orb thing… but that Guard Drake is going to know I am not Razathorn, we need a new plan.”

“Why don’t we go in there and tell them we’re Razathorn’s servants,” she reveals the tattoo on her neck. “If Mordak and Razathorn are truly the same person – then perhaps these creatures know that Mordak or Razathorn has servants that are forced to serve him because of the tattoo on our necks.” (DM Note – I loved this idea so much, because I hadn’t even considered it as an idea – and when Galiena mentioned this – my jaw literally cracked open because I loved this idea so much!)

Approaching the Gazer, Baldur holds up the staff, “We’re here to drop off Razathorn’s replacement staff,” he says confidentially with the others behind him (Baldur having used Minor Illusion to mimic their tattoo on the back of Ramgor’s neck). The Gazer stares them as they approach.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?” the Gazer growls. The Guard Drake raises its head and growls.

“We belong here, we work for Razathorn,” Baldur explains. “He needed special wood for his staff replacement.”

“Staff replacement? When did he break his staff?” the Gazer sneers.

“Listen,” Baldur shrugs, “I don’t know when or why – I don’t question Razathorn. If you want us to wait here until he shows up – and we can’t do his other tasks.”

The Gazer pauses. “Razathorn never brings his servants here! Why has he done this?”

“Apparently he doesn’t trust the dragon-men to fetch him the right kind of wood,” Baldur shrugs. “So he sent the three – I mean, four of us here, to get it. We’re supposed to drop it off at the top floor. Probably something to do with that cauldron upstairs.”

“He told you about the cauldron too?” the Gazer looks startled. “Well if you know of the cauldron you must truly be here on Razathorn’s request. Odd that he didn’t tell me. How does he expect me to guard the tower if he doesn’t tell me what he’s doing?”

“Listen, we just want to drop this off upstairs and be on our way back to the mainland to see what he wants us to do next,” Galiena steps up to add.

The Gazer turns to the Guard Drake who – sensing the runes – seems to give a silent approval. “Fine, pass,” the Gazer growls, clearly frustrated at having been left out of the loop. Baldur passes the Guard Drake and tries to pet it – only to have it snap at his hand. (DM Note – Failed Animal Handling and then failed to hit for a bite attack from the guard drake!)

The party reaches the second floor – where it appears to be an old library that has fallen into disarray. However – it is not quiet inside – there is – what appears to be a goblin, dancing wildly with a specter in his hand, singing, “I’m free! You’re free! I’m free!” And upon seeing the party coming into the room, he shouts, “Let’s dance!” The party tries to dance in a similar fashion – but the party fails (failed Performance group). The crazy goblins growls – and begins stomping his feet! (Critical fail on his initiative)

Aros considers attacking – however, suddenly feels overwhelmed – and begins praising the goblin creature who begins dancing feverishly around him. Galiena can’t figure out what Aros is doing and considers using Thorn Whip when she finds herself agreeing with Aros and starts praising the goblin creature for his stylish hair and dance moves. Baldur manages to overcome the idea of praising him – and manages to hit – but the creature reduces all the damage – and takes no damage! (Reversal of Fortune!) But Baldur manages to hit him with the butt of the spear, killing him – which snaps Aros and Galiena from the charm – but they’d blacked out – not recalling anything.

“You done praising your new friend?” Baldur sneers.

“What are you talking about?” Aros asks.

“You two. You were praising it. Holding hands. Dancing in a damn circle,” Baldur growls.

“Listen, I am really sorry I hit you with the Witch Bolt earlier, outside, I think it may have scrambled something,” Galiena sighs. “I was not praising that thing on the floor. Was I, Ramgor?”

Ramgor takes a deep breath, “Well, you were praising his hair and dance moves.”

“Ramgor!” Galiena snaps. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”

“Told you,” Baldur says and takes the goblin’s odd staff and slides it into his belt. He looks around the room and says, “Doesn’t look like much in here is worth saving.” He picks up a parchment, “A scroll of summon animals,” he sighs and throws it over his shoulder. “Useless.”

“Useless!” Galiena growls and picks up the parchment and rolls it and places it inside of her belt. Baldur picks up the goblin’s scepter and places it inside of his belt just because of the unusual appearance.

Seeing nothing else of use, the party ascends the next flight of stairs into the third floor. They reach the top of the stairs to an open archway that leads into a long room, where on the other end, a large cauldron bubbles. A window on the right is open to the outside, dark, moonless world.

“Go on, Aros,” Galiena nudges.

“Why are you so pushy?” Aros asks.

“Because we’re in a wizard’s tower, it’s bound to have traps,” she says.

“A wizard’s tower,” Aros grumbles. “That means arcane traps. Not wires. There’s a difference you know.” Aros grumbles as he barely enters the room that seems to be barren of any features save dust, a cauldron and a window to darkness. Baldur enters the room and looks out the window – and sees they’re about eighty feet up when suddenly he feels a firm shove from behind him, but manages to prevent himself from being propelled out the window. Galiena, Ramgor, and Aros see Baldur lurch forward, then suddenly grab his spear and begin poking wildly behind him.

“I think he may have gone mad after all,” Ramgor says, “from the dancing goblin.”

But another Draconian seems to appear from nowhere, a spear drawn and lunging at Baldur!

“Where did he come from?” Ramgor blurts in disbelief.

“I think he’s a mage like the one at the gate,” Baldur shouts as he defends repeated spear attacks. “You know, the one who shrunk me!”

Krall’lar, The Draconian Mage, laughs, “The four of you made enough noise! I was well aware of your presence and used an Invisibility spell!”

Aros, feeling confident in the other Draconians they’d killed rushes up, and slides next to Krall’lar and cuts him deep. Baldur tries to grab Krall’lar in an attempt to throw him out the window, as Krall’lar had planned to do to him; but Krall’lar is easily able to break Baldur’s grip! (Natural 20 on contested strength check!)

Fearful that Krall’lar will shove Baldur out the window, Galiena thorn whips and hits the Draconian and pulls him ten feet away from Baldur and the window. “Does that make up for the Witch Bolt?” she shouts to Baldur. She pulls it close enough so that Ramgor is able to strike the beast with his Moon Touched blade.

“Slightly,” he smiles and lunges after the Draconian, landing a hit while it was unbalanced. Facing Ramgor, Krall’lar thrusts his spear forward, dealing critical damage to Ramgor (Natural 20!).

Aros growls, “Hey! That’s our friend!” And manages to also hit the Draconian again. Baldur is able to hit twice with his spear, and notices that Krall’lar now looks less steady (DM Note – Officially bloodied!) Galiena hits again with Thorn Whip doing more damage and yanking the Draconian away from Ramgor now. It is Baldur who, from behind shoves his spear through Krall’lar delivering the killing blow. Remembering how the other Draconians exploded upon death, he quickly dove to the floor and avoided the explosion that came (Natural 20), however the explosion catches Aros and Ramgor, shredding them with bone fragments. As Galiena tends to Aros and Ramgor with her healing, Baldur picks up the spear and immediately hears a pleasant, but deep voice say, “Ah, now you seem more stable.”

“Why, thank you,” Baldur says, assuming the others heard the voice.

“Who are you talking to?” Aros asks, bandaging his cuts.

“You mean you don’t hear that voice?” Baldur asks, puzzled.

“What voice?” Galiena asks.

“Say something,” Baldur says.

“What would you like me to say?” he hears in his head.

“That voice,” he says, pointing to the air.

“We don’t hear anything,” Ramgor looks at Baldur with concern. “Maybe you’re right – the Witch Bolt may have damaged him.”

“They can’t hear me,” the voice says. “My name is Khor’taur. I am the spirit of a Amethyst dragon. Razathorn extracted my soul from an egg to turn me into a Draconian – like the creature whom held me before you… Only, I resisted – and so he bound me to a weapon. This weapon. And gave it to his most trusted Draconian Mage… the one named Krall’lar, the one you and your companions destroyed.”

Just as Baldur was about to ask more questions, he looks up to see the Gazer and the Green Guard Drake in the archway of the door – drawn upstairs by the sounds of combat. “We’ve got company,” Baldur grumbles.

The Green Guard Drake, furious it’d been deceived lunges into combat (Natural 20 on Initiative). It’s razor sharp teeth bite deep into Ramgar’s arm, drawing massive blood, but Ramgor is able to swing back and connect with his Moon Touched Rapier. The Gazer, sensing druidic powers – and potentially healing – from Galiena attempts to use it’s eye beams on her – but she’s able to avoid the Frost Ray, as well as brush off the Dazing Ray!

Baldur tries to run past the Green Guard Drake to go after the Gazer, but the Green Guard Drake uses a reaction to tail swipe Baldur for some damages as he passes the creature. And although avoiding the effects of the Gazer, this throws off Galiena’s ability to cast her sacred flame properly (1 damage and the Gazer successfully saved anyway). In the meantime, she’s further distracted by Ramgor’s cry out in pain as the Green Guard Drake lands another bite, this time to his leg.

The Gazer, once again tries to use its rays on Galiena – but she’s able to once more avoid the Fear Ray twice! The Gazer growls in frustration. (It knew Razathorn was going to be very upset when he returned to the tower!) Baldur reaches the Gazer and manages to hit once, but the second shot misses and he hits the wall which sends the spear bouncing back and cutting his shoulder, to which he hears Khor’taur’s voice say, “Sorry!” (Critical Fail) But it’d been the blinding light of Galiena’s Moonbeam spell striking the Gazer that had momentarily blinded Baldur – but the beam struck the target – and although the Gazer was able to avoid it, still took damage.

Meanwhile, the Green Guard Drake continued to rip into Ramgor’s flesh, as Ramgor began showing signs of weakness (Bleeding status!). Aros decides to fire an arrow at the Gazer and manages to land a hit on it, but doesn’t do much damage. The concentrated Moonbeam focused on the Gazer lands a hit – which it can not avoid – and it explodes, splashing Baldur in the face with its body as it explodes from the radiant energy coursing through its body.

“This is disgusting,” Baldur mutters.

She then moves the Moonbeam to the Green Guard Drake, and able to kill it.

The party slumps on the floor, wounded, and begins tending to their wounds.

“Hey, spear, do you know how to destroy this cauldron?” Baldur asks aloud.

“My name is Khor’taur,” the spear replies telepathically. “Granted, thanks to Razathorn I was robbed of being born a majestic dragon – but I should still be treated with some respect.”

“Right, sorry, Khor’taur – do you know how to destroy the cauldron?” Baldur amends.

“Show it what it’s not seen for a long time; that which is two and can block the one,” the spear replies. Baldur shakes his head, “Why do ancient beings always talk in riddles?” He stands up – approaches the cauldron turns around and removes his pants – showing his rear end to the cauldron – but nothing happens.

“He’s clearly lost it,” Ramgor mutters.

“What are you doing?” Galiena shouts. “Pull your pants up! Kaitlyn is going to hear about this.”

“The spear said to show it what it’s not seen before, the two that can cover the one,” Baldur shrugs. “That’s the moons. So I figured we had to moon the cauldron.”

“We need to show it the moons! Let’s get some mirrors and use it to reflect from the window to the cauldron,” Aros shouts.

“A wise idea,” Ramgor admits, but then adds, “Except – the moons have not shown on this island except during the Hollowing – which just passed. So unless we wait for a year here, which – Crescent said we need to get in and out before Razathorn shows up – we don’t have a way to show it the moons.”

“What if,” Galiena closes her eyes – casts Moonbeam on the cauldron – and the cauldron responds – by exploding. The explosion catches them all unaware, sending heated, metal fragments exploding throughout the room. The party quickly makes their way down the tower and flees – when just behind them – they see a light in the top room.

Everyone quickly dives into the bushes as a figure peers out from the window… and they all know it’s Razathorn. His eyes pierce the darkness, even from this distance, scanning for who dare enter his tower… and destroy his minions and his cauldron… he eventually vanishes from the window – and the party quickly make their way back to Crescent inside of his secret lair. There they’re met by Brandon Crowfeather who explains that he’d gone to Felhorn and spoke with Kaitlyn and the Innkeeper – and that Kaitlyn was relieved to know that Baldur (and the others were still alive) – and that the Inn Keeper had gone into Galiena’s room to pack her things – assuming she’d been taken by the fog – only to be sprayed in the face by some invisible creature – and discovered he could not stop laughing for hours. (DM Note – Galiena had told her fairy dragon, Dearbhán, to protect her undergarments after the incident of her bra having been stolen earlier).

TO BE CONTINUED?
YOU BETCHYA!