Beneath Zarin's Tower

I threw together a quick little cavern exploration for the party as a short encounter on their way home to the town of Edgerton. I included a few Fire Mephit which were supposed to just soften up the heroes for the final encounter with the Flame Salamander. As it turned out the Mephits were the most dangerous creatures in the adventure. Their breath attack was quite deadly because it struck the lower HP members of the group.

Once the group was back in their home town I really had no idea which direction they would go. I had a number of adventures partially developed but there is never enough time to cover every direction they might go. To add to that some of the characters have reached level 9 and want to start doing research and building strongholds. Luckily, I managed to keep ahead of them during the session.

Session 76: Beneath Zarin’s Tower

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Aashdoshan (human necromancer), Alonso (human fighter), Domago (human cleric), Lantosh (human fighter NPC), and Fenris the Filch (human thief NPC).

The party has arrived in a cavern some sixty feet below the ground after descending “Zarin’s tower”. The cavern is lit with the glow from a crevasse full of molten magma. The light from their lanterns reveals they have arrived in the ruins of an ancient town. A few buildings lie partially buried beneath dirt and stone.

Fenris and Lakima move forward toward the magma fissure and stop as the heat begins to get uncomfortable. They can see enough room to pass the crevasse on either side. Fenris is willing to try but Lakima says that it looks too unsafe. First Lakima drinks a potion of fire resistance then he casts the Luminous bridge spell and a glowing bridge of light arches over the magma.

“Hurry across!”, Lakima yells.

Fenris and Alonso are the first two to dash onto the bridge. As they are passing over the magma, three flying creatures made of magma emerge. Fenris breaks into a sprint and races across the bridge but one of the creatures (a mephit) claws at him and misses. Alonso attacks the creature and is joined by Lantosh, Domago, and Eathwund. Eathwund misses one of the flying creatures, but Domago strikes it with his mace. Aashdoshan fires magic missiles at one creature and it cools into rock and crumbles into the magma. A second creature breathes out a cloud of noxious gases and ash burning the lungs of the heroes. A mephit manages to claw Alonso but is then killed by Eathwund. The remaining Mephit breathes out a cloud of noxious gases on Aashdoshan, Lakima, and Eathwund. They try to hold their breath but are burned anyway. Domago hits the creature with a sling stone and Eathwund and Alonso finish it off with slashes from their swords.

The adventurers look around but do not see any more mephit rising up out of the magma. They all walk quickly across the bridge of light. Lakima summons his Glow Minion and he sends it into one of the ruined buildings. They see bones poking out from under some debris. Lakima commands the Glow Minion to drag the skeleton out of the building. It tries but yanks the skull off of the skeleton. Lakima hands the skull to Aashdoshan and asks how old it is. Aashdoshan tells him that the skull is at least a thousand years old. Leaving the buildings near the chasm, the adventurers make their way to the largest building in the cavern. Held up by stone columns, the building is completely buried beneath rubble but the roof is intact and they see an open doorway. The Glow Minion is sent inside.

From the doorway, Fenris and Lakima see the light of the Glow Minion reveal a large, twenty-foot-long flaming salamander resting on a nest of gems and crystals. It lies in the intact corner of the buried building. Domago suggests tossing it some food, but Lakima tells everyone to stand back as he casts Lightning Bolt at the creature. The Lightning bolt strikes the creature and shakes the entire cavern, dust and debris rain down from overhead and the ground shakes. As the dust clears, the salamander shrieks a loud challenge and rears up on multiple legs. Alonso, Eathwund, and Lantosh rush into the chamber to attack the creature. All three strike the creature which roars in anger. Lakima tosses darts at it and Domago fires sling stones. The Salamander darts toward Eathwund but encounters only his strong shield arm. Aashdoshan flings a magic dagger striking the creature high in the neck. The creature attacks Lantosh and wraps around him constricting around the hapless fighter in a ring of fire. Lantosh falls unconscious. Alonso strikes the creature with his sword edge behind its head and it collapses and begins to cool.

As the creature falls, Domago runs over to Lantosh and prays for healing. A glow emanates from his palms onto Lantosh’s chest. After a few moments, Lantosh awakes and gives thanks to the healer. In the nest of the creature, Fenris digs out a pile of gemstones of various sizes and qualities. He also finds five salamander eggs.

With the cavern explored Lakima suggests that they leave. However, Fenris points to some leaning stone buildings to the north and suggests they investigate. The Glow Minion is sent into a somewhat intact building and they see the shine of piles of loose gold and silver coins lying on the stone floor amongst three skeletons partially covered in fallen stone blocks. The Glow minion is unable to pick up the coins quickly so Fenris enters the structure with the Bag of Holding. Fenris spots a longsword that is free of rust and reaches for it but at that moment a dozen creatures of shadow emerge from the darkness almost surrounding him. Fenris leaps from the chamber and runs back to the group. Lakima tells him to duck as he casts Fireball into the chamber. The fireball explodes blinding everyone with the flash, dirt, and smoke pouring out of the building and the cavern chamber shakes again. As the smoke clears, they see no sign of the shadows. Fenris cautiously steps into the chamber and begins scooping gold and silver into the Bag of Holding. He finds the melted remains of the long sword. But he also scoops up a wand, a shield, and an intact suit of plate mail armor that he has to strip off of one skeleton. It takes several minutes for Fenris to fill up the Bag of Holding. During this time there is a pair of after quakes that lightly shake the cavern. Once he is done, the entire group hastily crosses the Bridge of Light and returns to the tower. Fenris locates the same levitation rune as above and he floats up the tower followed by his companions.

As the adventurers ascend toward the light from the portal, they see the dwarf Zarin looking down at them. He yells at them for entering his Magic Tower. He tells them anything they found belongs to him. Lakima tells him that they only saw a pile of copper in an unsafe ruin and that they left it there. Zarin looks the group over thoroughly, but since he does not see any treasure, he does not say anything. Lakima does tell Zarin how to open and close the portal and work the levitation lift. The adventurers quickly board the riverboat headed for Edgerton.

Back in Edgerton

The group arrives back in Edgerton late in the day. They head for their Manor House. Their manservant Huntley assures them that it has been quiet in Edgerton with them out of town for the past week and a half. He does hand out some messages that were delivered in their absence. One from Malyn for the attention of Lakima and one from Yana Malster (manager of the Sign of the Purple Bugbear) for the attention of Eathwund.

Letter from Malyn addressed to Lakima:

An old friend has arrived in town looking for partners in a venture that I believe you will want to join. The venture would involve a journey far to the north but the rewards would be substantial. The rewards would be in magical knowledge so I thought of you. He will be here in Edgerton for several weeks. Visit me at your earliest convivence.

A note from Yana Malster to Eathwund:

Hey boss, no good sales this month. No money. No need to come by. I have things well looked for. Will do better next month.

The adventurers go their separate ways in the Manor. Lakima’s apprentice Brice tells him that Rune Frost has been going through all of the books in the library and not putting them back in the correct order. He has had to clean up after him. He also tells Lakima that he feels he is ready to join his master on adventures.

The next day over breakfast Lakima notes to the assembled company that it would be a good idea if they continued to travel in pairs. Alayna assures him that she takes Onyx her magical guardian with her to her shop. Lakima asks Lantosh to join him on a visit to Malyn’s apothecary. Eathwund asks Domago if we would like to follow him over to his tavern. Aashdoshan is downstairs in the cellar, they assume and does not join them for breakfast.

Lakima and Lantosh arrive at the Apothecary and meet with Malyn and his apprentice Rodrigo. Rodrigo is sent to get Malyn’s visiting friend. He returns with a portly, older man with a grey beard. Malyn introduces the wizard as Ud Lux. Ud Lux tells Rodrigo to lock the door and then looks about conspiratorially. He tells Lakima he had better cast a privacy spell. Lakima watches as Ud Lux begins to cast a spell, and then he recognizes the incantation is for a Charm Person spell. Lakima grabs for his Rod of Absorption but before he can pull it from the Bag of Holding, he feels the charm compulsion falling over him. Lakima manages to shake off the spell and maintain his senses. Ud Lux realizes his spell has failed and curses, “the charm failed, kill him, Malyn!”

Before they can react, Lakima casts confusion on Rodrigo, Malyn, and Ud Lux. The spell grips them in insanity and Ud Lux yells, “You idiot, I will not suffer your mistakes anymore!” He casts a Lightning Bolt spell at Malyn, striking him and blasting a hole in the wall of the shop. Malyn turns invisible. Lakima summons a dwarf from the aether and yells for it and Lantosh to protect him. Lantosh approaches Ud Lux from one side while the dwarf approaches from the other. The dwarf strikes Ud Lux in the back of the neck knocking him forward. He spins around and strikes the dwarf with his staff. There is a flash of light and the dwarf disappears. Then Lantosh strikes Ud Lux in the head.  The wizard curses and raises his hands to surrender. Lakima demands to know why he attacked. Forgotten by everyone, Rodrigo calls out for help and they hear several voices respond from back in the shop. Ud Lux uses the distraction to teleport away. Malyn appears and Lakima casts dispel magic on him, breaking the charm Malyn was under. Malyn casts a charm on Rodrigo.

Lantosh blocks the doorway as four men attack him, Ud Lux’s bodyguards. Malyn casts a magic missile and kills one. Then Lakima casts a web spell and traps the rest. At that moment a town watchman slams open the door to the shop. Lakima tries questioning the three surviving henchmen but only learns that they are steadfastly loyal to something they call the White Worm. More town watchmen arrive and after several minutes of explaining the situation they take the three surviving henchmen away. Malyn tells Lakima that Ud Lux was a passing acquaintance and a middling mage. He has changed greatly in knowledge and power. He caught Malyn by surprise with a Charm spell when he visited a week ago. Then set a trap for Lakima. Malyn relates what he knows about the legend of the White Worm.

Meanwhile, Eathwund and Domago head to the poorer part of town and visit the Sign of the Purple Bugbear Tavern. Eathwund discusses some of the problems the newly renovated and opened tavern is having with his manager Yana. Yana makes excuses about the prices, the ghost of Mari Kell, and strange voices being heard in the cellar. Eathwund interviews the waitress Gladys who experienced the voices in the Cellar. He recalls that he also once heard this voice calling from below. But as the cellar is now blocked off from the catacombs beneath the Church of St. Bethesda, he dismisses it. He does suggest to Yana that they make some temporary price changes to increase patrons and he thinks about hiring a bouncer to cut down on fighting in the tavern.

Lakima and Lantosh head over to Lavinia Crane’s home to warn her that a cabal of wizards is charming/kidnapping magic users. However, he finds she is not at home. A quick check with the Arrow of Direction reveals that she is likely in town shopping.

Once everyone is back at the Manor House, Lakima explains what he encountered at Malyn’s shop. He goes down into the cellar and explains things to Aashdoshan as well.