• Orlando
• Delemir
• Jacob
• Josalyn
• Briiz
• Iona
• Thorgard
• Tatrin
• Fandillas
• Baldingo
• Honji
• Arusun

We left off last time at the Tower in the West Reach of Hollow. We fought off the Owlbears on the stairs. There was a human-sized Fae Creature with faerie wings and crystal looking veins through the wings. It had cast some spells and then disappeared. We pushed further into the tower and heard a voice from the 5th floor, which also disappeared. We let the Architect survey the Tower for 24 hours as per our mission. On the 5th floor, he came back and he was made aware that we were not gone.

Most people did not have their armor on when Jacob and his Henchmen ran down to the 1st floor with the Mercenaries and Orlando. The Mercenaries were leaving and a bunch of us were on the 6th floor except for Iona, who is now on the 5th floor. Delemir had dropped down a ladder, about 15' down to the 4th floor. At the top of the trap door is the 5th level.

There are three Ettercaps around the door along with a small Kobold and big Pseudodragon (for its size), which he is riding on. They can see Iona because of her Continual Light coin.

Josalyn was putting on armor but she canceled it as Thorgard and Tatrin were upstairs. Fandillas and Tatrin were also putting on their armor. Arusun had cast Protection From Evil and he needs 4 rounds to finish. Fandillas already had Protection From Evil on him. Delemir cannot see the enemies through the ceiling and the trapdoor has only one ladder on it but it is a 10' x 10' opening. However, only one person at a time can climb up.

From her position, Iona can see the enemies but she can see two things: some shelves that are built into the wall but these are just walls and she can see that there are two orbs. One orb is red tinted and one is blue tinted. They look like crystal balls and they are built into the stone shelves.

Round 4 of combat begins!

• Fandillas is going to cast Mirror Image, he will move forward with the next 8 segments.
• Baldingo and the rest will move down behind Fandillas, he will get close to where he can see people.
• Delemir runs down the tower.
• Jacob and company go outside.
• Thorgard is going to parley but he will chuck the gems down first.
• Delemir will chuck a rock to see if there is any electricity on the 4th floor.
• Iona will hold her position on the stairs. She throws her Continual Light coin toward the south door.
• Orlando will put on his armor.

Three of the Ettercaps move to engage Iona and the Pseudodragon with the Kobold are going to the red tinted orb. The Kobold is ordering the Ettercaps to kill the person on the stairs. Iona throws the coin before it happens and the whole level is fully illuminated by the coin.

Thorgard comes down the stairs and can see Iona engaged by the Ettercaps. He says, “This is a huge misunderstanding! Here is some gold and gems.” Thorgard takes a -20 and a -15 for Reaction check. At this time, Fandillas's Mirror Image spell goes off and he gets 1 image.

Fandillas is on the staircase with Thorgard, Baldingo and Honji. The Kobold rejects the parley and he says that he will kill us, he is obviously not happy. The Ettercaps are now surrounding Iona.

It is the next round (Round 5).

• Thorgard yells, “Duck!” and then says to Honji, “Blast the Ettercaps with the wand of fear!”
• Iona will activate her Ring of Shocking Grasp as she ducks down to grab one of them by its ankle.
• Tatrin is still putting on armor.
• Orlando is putting on armor.
• Fandillas will wait for Honji to use the Wand of Fear and then charge into to use his own Ring of Shocking Grasp.
• Baldingo Moves Silently in the shadows to sneak up for a backstab.
• Arusun is putting on armor.
• Delemir is still going down the stairs.
• Briiz puts on his magic leather jacket and tells the Crossbowmen to get into formation.
• Josalyn and Jacob are putting on their armor.

Iona misses her attack with the Shocking Grasp this round as the Wand of Fear goes off on the second segment. The Ettercaps must save versus spells and they need a 14. One passed, two failed.

Fandillas starts charging on the 3rd segment as the Kobold lays his claw on the orb. There is a sudden feeling of jarring movement, as if the entire level has just landed somewhere. This is followed by a great crack of lightning and we can hear a storm outside, like a rain relentlessly buffeting outside.

Fandillas misses his attack but the two Ettercaps that are feared begin trying to run. One Ettercap is attacking Iona. A claw and a bite both hit for 1 and 5 damage and must save versus poison. She saves and resists the poison! She yells out that she can barely feel it!

Fandillas is now in the melee and the Mercenaries can see Delemir as he scales the tower. He manages to get most of the way up by the time Briiz puts on his jacket.

Next Round (Round 6).

• Baldingo will attempt to Move Silently.
• Fandillas will attack to unleash the Shocking Grasp.
• Honji will use the Wand of Fear at the Kobold.
• Delemir goes back up.
• Jacob, Josalyn and Briiz are still at the bottom of the Tower, messing around with their armor and talking with the Mercenaries.
• Iona will throat punch an Ettercap and do a Shocking Grasp this time.

Two of the Ettercaps are fleeing. Iona and Fandillas both fry the same Ettercap! Iona did 13 damage total, 12 from the Shocking Grasp +1 for the throat punch. The Kobold and Pseudodragon is now out of our view as Iona is attacked again. The bite and claws both miss and she takes 1 damage from a claw.

At the end of the second segment, an enchantment falls over us…

Meanwhile, Delemir opens the door and he finds that the level is missing once again! He must save versus paralysis or fall. He fails his save and will take 2d6 damage. He ends up taking 6 damage as he falls to the floor below. Delemir has his armor on and it must save versus a crushing blow. THE ARMOR SAVES!

An enchantment falls upon us all on the 5th level, on all 5 of us! It is a Slow spell…

• Iona is not slowed.
• Honji is slowed.
• Thorgard is slowed.

Those of us effected will have 1/2 attacks and Thorgard begins to charge. Iona hits does 10 damage to the Ettercap on the stair. Baldingo made his move silently but the Ettercap was already dead. Thorgard can get to the enemy before the end of the round. Honji did unleash the Wand of Fear on the Kobold leader, which goes off first!

It turns out that the Pseudodragon confers its magic resistance to Kobold and wands are at a 6th level of casting. Both the Pseudodragon and the Kobold get a 60% magic resistance. However, the Kobold does not resist the magic! The Pseudodragon DOES resist. Since he failed, the Kobold must save versus fear. It fails and the KOBOLD IS FEARED!

The Kobold immediately falls off the Pseudodragon mount as Thorgard is charging at it. The Pseudodragon has a tail so it will attack at the same time and Thorgard must hit AC 2 and HE HITS! Thorgard does 5 damage as the Pseudodragon, who then attacks back with a tail and a bite. Thorgard's Ring of Protection holds up against his natural Dwarven resistance to rings so he gets an additional -1 to AC due to the charge. The tail hits but the bite misses and Thorgard must save versus poison. HE SAVES and is not poisoned! Thorgard leaps out of the way of the Pseudodragon's jaws.

Round 7.

Thorgard is in melee with the Kobold and Pseudodragon. He sees that the Kobold has a large satchel around its back that is bigger than a human head and looks heavy. This sticks out to him.

• Iona will shoot the Kobold with her crossbow.
• Fandillas casts Magic Missile.
• Honji backs up as Baldingo is sneaking over to try and backstab.
• Arusun tries to go downstairs.
• Baldingo can keep his move silently and is moving at normal speed.

On segment 1, there is something appearing near the ceiling. It poofs into vision a “Fae” creature, which then has begun to cast a spell, using Fae whispers. The Slow enchantment is too powerful for Thorgard to plea, or parley, with the Fae creature. Meanwhile, Thorgard missed his attack but the Kobold no longer has magic resistance. The Kobold then takes 8 damage from Magic Missile and it is obliterated!

When this happens, the Fae creature stops casting its spell and the Pseudodragon stops immediately. It still seems nervous about Thorgard but Thorgard attempts to calm the Pseudodragon. He must get a 50 or higher on a Reaction roll.

He succeeds! Thorgard manages to calm the Pseudodragon…which is somewhat in a daze, as is the Fae creature up by the ceiling. The Ettercap has run to the northern door where there is a thick layer of webbing. It manages to pull open the door revealing a sky that is completely filled with sand. It is dark beyond, with a quarter of the Sun showing in the sky. There is also what appears to be a thick sandstorm in the area along with lightning bolts lighting up the sky. We can only see about 10' into the area. the Ettercap leaps off and falls down into some place we do not know. Then, the door begins closing off quickly.

The Kobold had the satchel and it was not om the Pseudodragon. The Pseudodragon allows Iona to approach the fallen Kobold and the Fae creature questions where she is and what has befallen her.

Iona grabs the satchel as the Fae creature is calmed by the Elf, Fandillas, and then she blinks away while making noises of worry. She has seemingly gone invisible.

We investigate the orbs. There are four orbs on this level. They look like big crystal balls but they are not very crystalline or translucent. They look more frosty though one is Red, one is Blue, one is Yellow and one is Green. The yellow one has a crack on it and the crack has veins going through the center, it looks like it was damaged at some point. There is a very big chest by the west door, on a wooden platform with wheels. The trapdoor is open and when we look into it, it only goes down to stone, like a bowl.

There is no command word used on the crystal ball.

Jacob and Josalyn fly up to the 5th floor outside the door. Thorgard will motion the Pseudodragon toward the north door and it leaves a narrow trail of blood behind it. Iona finds something on the body of the Kobold with the satchel. As she goes to grab the satchel off the dead body, which she apparently had already done, inside is a perfectly smooth orb made of similar material to the four other orbs on the tables. It has a solid appearance and looks deep moss green in color. It is slightly bigger that the others and she can feel a sort of calling inside.

Honji goes toward the blue orb as Iona puts the moss green orb in her backpack. Fandillas will touch the orb and as he does so, there is a mighty Whoooooop! Suddenly, we can see down to the lower level. There is a chest that is still here. Jacob charges at something…

The Pseudodragon was hurt but it is now healed. Josalyn had cast Cure Light Wounds on the Pseudodragon and then Josalyn casts another one on Iona.

Once we have had a chance to recover, the Cleric casts Find Traps and we go to investigate the chest. Fandillas attempts to acquire the Pseudodragon as an ally. He gets a +60 to roll to convince the creature! The Pseudodragon is still apprehensive but seems somewhat bound to him now. He feeds the Psuedodragon a ration and it goes to the balcony and eats.

The Fae creature is a Sylph! It bestows onto us a potion of White Dragon Control. It is the only reward that she can give to us. She is not really bound to one place like some other Sylphs, she is more of a pilgrim and usually stays within the Hollow. Her name is Anemone and she is an acquaintance of the Dryad called Calynday, who is a powerful force in this part of the forest. Fandillas gains this as a benefit.

Jacob asks what happened to the Kobolds treasure. The Pseudodragon says it just had a satchel. As we go to investigate the chest, it looks unlocked. Jacob backs up to open the chest, which reveals a bunch of coins and treasure:

• 3500 sp
• 3100 ep
• 3550 gp
• 5 gems

The Sylph, Anemone, says that Calynday is from this region of the Hollow and is the most well known Dryad in this forest. She is comparable to the most powerful Druid in this area which is far more than normal for a Dryad.

We use a Detect Magic spell to look at all of the stuff and the bodies. One of the corpses has naked feet that radiates with a powerful magic! The magic comes from both feet and there are no traps detected. Thorgard inspects the feet and he pulls off some kind of invisible pair of slippers. As Thorgard removes them, they reveal themselves and they un-meld from the feet of the corpse. They are a pair of green velvet slippers with curly toe, an Aladdin type of footwear…and they smell like a corpse.

Jacob emerges with Zephryx, the emaciated man that was captured by the Kobolds and found inside the upper level of the Tower. Zephryx is talking to a mercenary when he notices what we are up to, “Ah, my companion's old boots. Its a shame they didn't help him survive the floor. These are a pair of magic slippers that we found on an adventure some time ago. I always thought they were excellent in their dweomer and to be able to meld onto the feet. They allowed him to go without the notice of the Kobold”.

• Slippers of Spider Climbing.

Zephryx would not mind if they were entrusted to him as the Kobolds stripped them of all their belongings, including his spellbook. While the Kobolds were parleying with Humans or Elves, the Kobolds sold all his possessions to some group of Men. It was actually a couple of different groups. This happened over the course of the months that he was held prisoner and he never got to see who the Men were. He tells us that he is an 8th level spellcaster, in so many words.

Fandillas offers to give him some spells and he is willing to accept spells from Fandillas. He says that he also has a hidden spellbook back in Elsewater, for emergencies. He might have some spells that Fandillas can use. He plans to back to Elsewater, if he actually makes it back alive despite the cursed orb. He is only 32 years old afterall. We tell him about Mombafra, which he acknowledges, is a great city to be in.

There is our Guild Hall in Mombafra.

We discuss what we can do next. We will rest to get our Cure spells and what not back. There are some levers on the bottom level and on the 5th level and there is a lot of Ettercap webbing on all the other doors. The webbing goes up to the ceiling where there are rocks suspended. All of the doors are on level 5 can be barred but are open.

We know that Ettercaps are not usually found in this type of normal forest but are usually associated with enchanted woods where Fae creatures are typically found.

Iona's Giant Goat mount and the Hippogriff can go inside the tower but the Horses cannot, which presents an issue for us once we decide to set up camp for the night.

Iona retrieves her rope and grapnel and then we set up camp. The rest of the night goes by without incident. But we are 1 Movement Point short of returning back to Iway. We talk about using the moss green orb.

In the morning when Josalyn wakes up, she will pretend to cast Cure Light Wounds but instead will cast Know Alignment on Zephryx.

Loot:

• Moss Green Orb from the Kobold.
• Slippers of Spider Climbing.
• 3500 sp
• 3100 ep
• 3550 gp
• 5 gems

Josalyn detects that Zephryx is Neutral Good and she also looks around to see everyone else's alignment, including all the player characters. After this, we go to the 5th floor and mess with the green orb.

Fandillas will touch the green orb and Iona's Giant Goat will join us inside the lower chamber for protection.

As Fandillas touches the green orb, we hear a crackling sound from BELOW. There is a muffled humming sound, an electrical sound. He immediately hits it again and it shuts off. The yellow orb looks damaged lightly and then Honji casts Detect Magic, seeing that all 4 orbs have a powerful magic. Honji detects the school of magic (or class) as well and detects that the green orb has alteration magic and the other three orbs also have alteration magic. He can tell that the three have a slightly different form of alteration magic.

Fandillas touches the blue orb and it does not respond.

Then, he touches the yellow orb…no he does not. First, we ask Zephryx about these orbs but he says that he does not have a good memory of this room. He has had enough of orbs. Then, he looks at the orbs and he can't tell anything of their powers. When we ask about what he may have experienced from this room, he says that he never heard major noises other than the sound the tower makes when it would teleport.

We examine the yellow orb that looks like it is cracked. If we had the ability, it could be repaired through magic, such as a Mending spell.

It is now midday and Fandillas rests to memorize the Mending spell. He casts it into the yellow cracked orb it is completely sealed again. Lets go!

We touch the yellow orb and there is a WOOOOMMPP!

The double door disappears and beyond that is a chamber. It now looks like the porch is gone and the doors are thrown open into a chamber which is dark. We can see that the walls and ceiling and floor appear to be missing and instead, there is just a black void. It has a fuzzy texture and appears like the chamber is floating.

The entire chamber becomes black…and floating in the void is a luxurious chamber with plushy red chairs and a long table with bone decorations. Upon this table is a couple thousand gold worth of alchemy supplies. There is also a big bookcase of dark mahogany from another part of the world. It looks very old. Floating in the air are candles but their light does not pierce the blackness.

There are no traps detected with Find Traps so we toss in a coin. The gold coin tinks off the floor, skips a couple times, and then echoes. Delemir walks across and his boots hit the floor of the void as if he is walking on polished marble stone. Overall, the floor seems normal. Josalyn casts Detect magic and we find that there is nothing in the book case.

The floor in the previous room remains as it had previously and beneath the trapdoor as well as outside the windows, it is still the same. This chamber appears to be some kind of pocket dimension. Outside the tower, it was rainy but in here the air is crisp.

Delemir checks the books and finds a wide variety of topics but some volumes are apparently missing. All of these books would be valuable to a Magic-User. They regard planar things and spells and what not. There is also a strange looking tome of a rusty red color whose subject covers the details of a fighting style.

Fandillas wants to keep the Tower for himself as these instruments might be enough to keep up an alchemy lab. He would need an Alchemist's assistance despite having the lab. For this, he would have to pay the Alchemist the standard monthly fee until reaching 11th level. These hired Alchemists, once hired, are always using the lab.

We can also hire guards at their monthly cost, along with the appropriate Captains and Sergeants. We would have to convert some levels into a barracks and they would need food and supplies. Men-at-arms such as these must have a barracks and food supplies along with a 1% per month of the structure fee that must be paid. We can clear the hexes around the Tower, should we claim it, but after we do that, we will not get followers until we reach name level.

We will need to use the construction rules for the structure and there is no extra money for the traps or for the void. Jim has already done this for the Guild Hall in Mombafra, calculated the cost.

The DM will prepare a hex map in Foundry for a hexcrawl for the clearing of all the lairs in the vicinity.

Iona thumbs through the Fighter Style book which uses a mix of a chain and a fist dagger, or punching dagger. It is a weird fighting style that originated from the East, maybe from Hakaya which is near the Dwarf Mountains.

Nothing else in the room is found.

There are some rumors that have been heard about the Gloom that was spreading in the Badlands.

We heard that, first of all, that a couple weeks ago some adventurers pulled out some unguarded treasure from the Synthetorium. They awakened something within and opened a portal to the Hells, which began to spread the Gloom throughout the badlands and the homes of the Ukhatu. Another group of adventurers were made aware of this and went to the location to use an object to close the portal.

The word is that the Ukhatu Tribe Barbarians are in war mode. The Gloom was about to reach the Honor Canyons, which are south east of Seleb and are about 15 miles long. These are the Sacred Canyons that the tribe forbids anyone from entering and is said to be guarded by strange enchantments and Earth Elementals as well as the spirit ancestors of the Barbarians. Only the people that have passed a rite of manhood can enter.

The adventurers that closed the portal were NOT us and they also got a huge amount of treasure from the Synthetorium.

Fandillas will wizard lock the Tower door before we make camp. We are leaving behind the alchemy supplies and other books for now however we are taking the fighting style book, which is a quest item.

With a Wizard Lock spell, Fandillas can open them freely but it is locked for others and to open it, they must cast a Dispel Magic or break down the door. We stay inside the tower, on the first level. Fandillas touches the yellow orb again and it closes, the orbs are then melded into the stone holders.

Of the 12 of us. Jacob, Baldingo, Arusun, and Honji are up on watch in the early evening and we are all sealed inside the tower.

Jacob hears a loud sound and the Horses begin freaking out outside. Jacob mounts up onhis Hippogriff and rides up yelling to arms! He makes it up to the 5th floor in one round. We have a total of 24 Horses and Mules with us as Jacob charges up with a battle cry.

We awake to the sound of the Horses fear growing. Then, we hear the sound of the cracking of bones through the Tower doors! Horses, including Warhorses, do not attack unless they are being ridden.

Arison and Baldingo have their armor but Fandillas does not. Baldingo unbars the door and then opens it. Briiz calls down to the Crossbowmen to get a better vantage point. Iona will go out the door on Xarnos with her spear in hand while most everyone else is putting on their armor.

We hear horses screaming from the left side door. The south door is Wizard Locked while the east door is opened by Baldingo. Actually, NVM…IT IS BLASTED OPEN…ACTUALLY IT HOLDS!

Something of great strength is bashing at the door. Jacob and his Hippogriff open up the door on the 5th level and he takes off into the night, though it is not a new moon. It is a waxing gibous moon with enough light outside to see but Jacob is above the canopy level of the trees. He can, however, see a scene of horrific carnage.

1/3 of the Horses are lying on the ground and it is apparent that some of the Horses have bolted with such fear and strength, perhaps unnatural fear. There is a blood pool full of thrashing Horses surrounded by six figures that are much taller than Ogres. Three of the figures are slamming against the west door of the tower, trying to break it open and the others are snapping entire legs off the Horses and eating them like drumsticks.

Baldingo gets to the door and unbars it, Iona opens the door and the screams of Horses comes in at full volume. We have the benefit of some moonlight as Iona rides full speed to the north.

The Pseudodragon under the control of Fandillas can communicate through some ideas telepathically. Fandillas tells it to hide near the door as Iona rides out and gets a few trees between the Giants and her and her Giant Goat, Xarnos.

Jacob flies down to attack the figures. Three of the doors on the 5th level have Ettercap traps on them. They would need to break a window on the 6th level to get on the roof otherwise.

Thorgard yells out to Baldingo to attack while Iona gets a better look than Jacob did. These creatures are NOT Giants, there are 6 Trolls! Iona will try sniping the Trolls from a distance to pull them away from the Tower.

Fandillas says, “Let me know when they are on the 3rd floor, I will flip the switch.”

Iona fires at a Troll but misses. At this moment, the Trolls burst down the door and they are moving in as well as the group. Jacob attacks an isolated Troll and he hits! They are large creatures so he hits for 11 damage. His Hippogriff misses and the Troll counterattacks. A bite and both claws hit causing 6 and 9 damage from the claws and the bite does 15 damage total.

The Trolls have AC 4 and Jacob just did 19 damage! The Troll is now wounded heavily.

The Tower people are moving upwards and Jacob is trying to land on top of the Tower. Anemone, the Sylph, is nowhere to be found this evening and the Pseudodragon is with Fandillas.

Fandillas jumps through the hole in the floor.

Outside the Tower, a Troll is now charging at Iona. It is one of the Trolls that is not damaged. All 3 Troll attacks hit her for 8 and 7 damage from the claws. Iona is mauled by the Troll as she takes another 9 damage from the bite.

Arusun is hanging out on the 3rd level. Iona's Giant Goat must make a loyalty check and it becomes enraged at the Troll, though its attack misses. All attacks from the Troll hit Xarnos, two claws for a total of 12 damage and a bite does 9 hp. Xarnos is defeated in one round, as is Iona!

The Trolls enter the 3rd level and there is a powerful burst as the electrified trap level is triggered! The orbs release all of their electricity and then they need to recharge. They do 4d6 damage and the Trolls must save versus paralysis for half. Only one Troll failed its saving throw and they do 14 damage to one. The other two will only take 7 damage.

Next up, the wand of fear is used, and they all fail! The Trolls are feared!

• Delemir cast Bless and then Sanctuary.
• Josalyn Cure Light Wounds on Jacob's Hippogriff.
• Tatrin goes to the red crystal.
• Fandillas runs to the red orb as well and waits for the Troll to climb through and then will trigger the teleport once the Troll comes through.

The spells go off and everyone gets the Bless effect for 6 rounds. Delemir then starts casting Sanctuary.

The Trolls move on segment 4 and the orbs all zap the Trolls, dealing 11 damage and 6 damage for half to those that save. The orbs will recharge in a round and they get blasted again by the fear effect. All of them fail and they take 10 damage this time then the Trolls disappear down the stairs.