Game Notes, Session V

Gameplay began pretty much where we left off in Session IV. The characters were given a chance to accomplish some goals over the course of the two weeks they took before tackling the tower. Guy purchased and trained a riding dog, Virgil spent time out in the forest hunting, and Floyd played the inn and had a close encounter with Havarn the night he experimented outside of his shop with Havarn’s locks.

At the end of the week, one night at the inn, Brother Sal tells the party (minus Brix, who has contracted Hirsute’s flu) that the town will be burying one of its elders, the recently deceased Old Bill, that night in the graveyard, and the party may find that to be an opportune moment to sneak into the Tower.
The party travels to the forest and views the funeral from afar, noting that Old Bill is buried in shallow earth. That night, the top of the tower bursts into flame as a low-pitched horn emanates from within the walls, and a very large bipedal creature leaves the tower (the porthculis opens for his exit, hence the opportunity for the boys to get in), grabs Old Bill, and goes back inside. The party follows, and the porthculis closes behind them.

The first room does not seem to have much inside of it, but the staircase gives way to a trap which Floyd and Virgil narrowly avoid. The party makes its way up to a floor with three rooms, and a hallway with various flesh golem experiments. In the first room, they discover a Ravid that has been trapped by a spell circle carved out in the ground. The party cleans out the room (they get some vials with a substance unknown to them inside), and they release the Ravid from his bonds. The Ravid thanks them, and returns to its home plane.

In the second room, they find some mechanical golems. Floyd expresses an interest in the making of these mechanical golems, only to have Guy destroy it in front of him. In the third room - zombies! The party takes out the zombies with a moderate degree of difficulty (mainly attributing to the need for slashing weapons to deal with zombies).

The boys make their way to the final room, where they discover the large creature trying to put Old Bill in a large cauldron. And of course, more zombies. But, much to their luck, Brix makes a miraculous recovery from his illness, and joins the party just in time. Brix turns most of the zombies, but the large creature is too powerful to turn. Floyd slips past the creature and runs upstairs, looking for a way to interrupt its life force (they’re able to determine that this mofo is undead, as well). While he doesn’t find any such thing, he does discover the purpose of the cauldron – it’s a refueling for the Archlich who originally owned this tower. Floyd disposes of the pipeline feeding Alkawa (the archlich in question), and quickly loots the room for everything of value.

Downstairs, the rest of the party takes down the uber-zombie, and head upstairs, where they find a complete map of the tower, only to discover there’s a trap door down at the first level that leads below. They decide to check it out, and they discover a spooky abandoned dormitory of sorts. Shortly thereafter, they encounter a small army of Grimlocks, whom the party begin to dispatch summarily. However, the party’s luck runs out, and Guy is killed by a well-placed Grimlock hit. The party return to the town, and inform the citizens of Drea what they had been party to. The boys rest up, with the intention of finding Druids to reincarnate Guy in the next session.

End of Session V