Session LVIII: Into The Tower

Our Fearless Adventurers

1. Arg - Half-orc
2. Gnarly- Druid
3. Christopher - priest of Mithra
4. Maximus - Magic User
5. Skwanky - Halfling Warrior
6. Wolf - Viking
7. Thovin-Cleric

When we last left our brave heroes they had finally pieced together the last key and opened the door to the base of the tower.  But no sooner than they had finally gained entrance to their goal that their army of soldiers all fell to the ground in a slumber.  Behind them, down the wide hall was the woman they had 'rescued' from the ogres who had come back to them as a witch!

As the party rushed this feeble looking woman she blasted them with a cone of frost just as Maximus cast a hold person spell on her. 

With all the soldiers dead, including Captain Vanir and Christopher mortally wounded, Arg and Wolf butchered the witch who turned out to be an Ogre Mage!

Finally entering the tower's base chamber, they found only a number of soft reclining chairs.  But as they were deciding to sit upon them, the door slammed shut and some magical force pinned them to the ground. 

Once the disorientation and the magic dissipated, they found that a hole had opened up in the ceiling that wasn't there before. 

Arg tossed the Halfling up into the hole to find what he could see.  Skwanky discovered that about thirty feet into this hole were rungs in the stone. 

Gnarly turned himself into a raven and flew up the hole and discovered that it opened up into a spacious chamber filled with a moist air and fog.

Tying a rope to the rungs, the wounded party climbed up into the mysterious chamber.  Blindly exploring, they eventually came upon a wall following the slightly curved wall for a way they were attacked by a vicious Heiracosphinx.  Killing the beast in a bloody battle they found it's lair in a pile of rubble and looted some treasure.

Not far from the lair they found an iron spiral staircase climbing into the whiteness.

As they ascended the stairs they were attacked by a trio of petranodons, which after some hack and slash they dispatched.

Climbing the stairs they entered into a heavily forested chamber.  Following the trail they were ambushed by a deadly Su-Monkey who was joined by two others.  After a horrific battle which left them all near death, they continued through the enclosed forest and came upon a rose garden tended by a hooded gardener.  As they got the gardener's attention, she turned around and removed her hood to reveal that she was a Medusa and turned three of the party to stone.  Slaying the deadly Medusa and rescuing their companions with a scroll looted from the Ogre Mage, they continued through the forest to discover another iron staircase rising through the ceiling. 

Meeting a Medusa in the forested chamber

 They found themselves standing upon a stone landing with paths leading from it all above a lake of fire.  Opposite of them, guarding another staircase upwards stood a fire giant who proceded to pick  up a large bolder.  But as the Halfling charged around the stone path to face the Giant alone, the party was attacked by elemental fire bats.

As they fought these mystical sprites they noticed that the Giant just stood his ground and didn't try to attack them by throwing boulders. 

With the fire creatures defeated they stood across the grand hall facing the Fire Giant who goaded them on.  They talked with the creature and discovered that he was a servant of the Heart of Invernese, the power that built this tower and what is controlled by Zadir the Stygian wizard.

The giant was guarding the entrance to the higher levels of the tower. 

After a parley where they tried to get the giant swayed to their side, the badly wounded party thought it best to head back down to the forested room and lick their wounds for their coming battle against the Fire Giant...