The party has heard a rumor recently, a tale of a Magic-User and his Henchmen. They went to a tower located north of Gren, on the edge of the mountains, to claim the treasure from a Fire Drake rumored to dwell within. They did not return.

In the previous session, Davlan had been cursed! He now makes gold disappear when he touches it. When he went to a sage about it, he ran out of money.

• Adaeril Chaent - Elf Fighter 1 / Magic-User 1 AC 1/3 Doors 1-2 Hear Noise 1-3
• Khalophis Iskiades - Cleric of Cine 1 AC 3/3 medium shield 9“ Doors 1-2
• Randimir - Cleric of Tralf 1 / Magic-User 1
• Iskandar - Magic-User 4
• Davlan - Magic-User 5
• Brindle Bronzehand - Dwarf Fighter 2
• Morikai - Assassin 1 AC 7/8 Move 9” Doors 1-2 Keen Eared
• Wine - Cleric 2

We are in Gren, a town which is beginning to grow and prosper due in no small part to our recent acquisitions and expenditures.

The plan is to travel across the grasses to a solitary tower located in the mountains. We are headed to the Tower of the Fire Drake.

The only other close town from the Tower besides Gren is Ulan.

As the morning sun arises, we head out north west across the Sea of Grass. We have lots of visibility because the grasses are mostly dead, dry and brittle this time of year. There are mainly little shrubs dotting the landscape but the grasses will grow back in Spring.

It was at this time that we spotted a party on the horizon, heading northwards perpendicular to us. They are at a distance of 120 yards and it looks like they number over 100. The figures appear to be very short and have donkeys pulling some carts which appear to be piled high with tarp covered goods. We count over 140 of them as they are making their way across toward the northern mountains.

We study the caravan for a bit and see that they do not seem to carry themselves like Halflings but they do wear armor and carry weapons. They are Gnomes.

We approach the Gnomes. They send out riders to meet us and then introduce themselves. They are Gnomes from Neblin Hold and they are out here prospecting for new mines. They tell us to watch out for Gorsin, a dangerous beast of the Sea of Grass.

As the party of the Neblin Hold, they offer to take us to the mountains with them. So we travel with them part of the way.

The Sun begins to set in the west. The Gnomes tell us that if we have need of Gnomish craftsmanship, we can find them to the northwest, toward the edge of the Western Mountains. Gnomes are generally fine gemscutters and keen miners but they have lots of competition. The Dwarves of the mountains give steep competition. They tell us that some of these Gnomes worship Tralf and none of them have been attacked during their trip.

Randimir asks if they would accept a blessing because there is a Chimera nearby, just to the southwest. They thank Randimir for their blessing. They also inform us that Shin's Castle fought the Chimera that was attacking High Dell and another Chimera lairs in the Stone Chalice.

After traveling for most of the day, we arrive a couple of miles east of the tower. We decide to camp and take watches in pairs. The whole night passes without incident so we prepare to face the tower this day.

Eventually, the low tower comes into view and we can see an enormous dead tree rising straight out of the rock with the tallest branches ascending toward the top of the tower. The tower and tree stand atop a low mountain and scraggly brush and foliage surround the tower, like a crown. The tower looks to be human made and does not have the stylings of the elder races. However, someone might surmise that it is built in the style of Rook due to its angular, practical design. The large tree is 50' from the base of the tower.

We climb the shallow slope of the low mountain and get within 50' of the tree. There is an opening in the earth, concealed by some of the scraggly brush. Right in the middle of the wall and the tree lies the opening which drops into a concealed area, where there is a door in the side of the mountain. We do not see any doors on the tower itself but it does have a parapet, We look for a roof entrance and for any windows and we can only see that the tower has a ledge all around the top. There are some squat windows with iron bars extended across them. The windows are shaped like low crescents.

Morikai hears skittering against stone, the sound of several insects. Randimir casts Bless as we open the door. A cloud of dust rises up from a hallway that is choked with sparkling spider webs. There must be hundreds of tiny spiders skittering into the ceiling and some disappear down the hallway.

Davlan lights up the spider webs with a torch and they light up in a huge conflagration, all of the spiders are completely consumed by the flames. After they burn out, there are just a few strands of webbing left. We can now see beyond the archway and it looks like there might be another doorway.

As we go in we can see 2 more doors and a stairway that descends deeper. We try to open the first door on the left and are able to push it open without issue. It opens up to a chamber with tell tale signs of a recent camp. There are bones on the floor and the ceiling has a large spider web. It is covered in cat-sized Spiders.

The Spiders have AC 7 and we are able to easily kill them all. The Spiders were not able to harm any of us.

We continue forward and find an absence of old webs in the next area. It looks like the previous occupants just took up a room here. The ground is littered with old bones. Adaeril searches for secret doors but does not find anything.

Finding nothing, we open the other door. In the next area, we find some corpses wrapped up in cocoons and spiderwebs which cover the ceiling and walls. There is a human sized cocoon strung up in the webs as well as 7 more cat-sized Spiders. The bigger ones are the size of large dogs…and they all come scuttling towards us.

Two Large Spiders come straight for us. Mordecai is bit immediately and needs to save versus poison as +2.

There are 6 Small Spiders and they are all hanging directly over our heads.

The two Large Spiders attack again but are killed.

Randimir casts sleep which causes all of the Small Spiders fall asleep except for one un-enchanted Spider and we kill it.

We crush all of the sleeping Spiders,

We find 8 unfortunates wrapped up in the room. Adaeril cuts them down. Inside one of the cocoons is a human corpse wearing leather armor with dagger on their side and a backpack. This person was lightly equipped. There are also 7 rough looking men that were caught up in the webs and each of them had small coin pouches:

• 47 gp
• 1600 cp

There are some laden backpacks found and it is apparent that the 8th member was wearing black robes. They had normal traveling supplies, with mess kits, and one had a scroll case. Along the walls are two burst egg sacks that appear to be freshly opened, from sometime in the last couple of months. We find another busted egg sack after more searching.

• Scroll Case.

Further down the passage is another door, beyond which is an area with a ladder built into the back wall. It rises up to the ceiling, which is high. The ladder is connected to rails which ascend high to the top of the tower and then to a stone platform that encircles the inner tower like a ring. On the platform, we encounter a Red Dragonnet. It's maw is opened and positioned toward us.

The small Dragon unleashes a stream of flame. The blast, which is a 10' area, hits us all!

Adaeril takes 5 damage. Meanwhile, a Sleep spell goes off and the Red Dragonnet falls asleep!

We quickly kill the Fire Drake and focus on healing up.

The Drake has a bulbous body and is amphibian or reptilian with a long and full set of teeth. Heat radiates from the body.

We can see an obvious floor panel in the south corner, it is a trap door in the south end. We find some treasure:

• 250 pp

There is a machined box attached to the ladder. Davlan floats up slowly with a Levitation spell. There are two connections built into the wall and another that connects to a chain.

Adaeril listens at the trap door but hears nothing beyond.

Davlan finds 1000's of coins in the nest at the top:

• 5,000 cp.
• 9,900 sp.
• 850 ep.
• 750 gp.
• A bone scroll tube/case.

Sticking out of the pile of coins is a thick handle. Davlan pull the handle without touching the coins. Heavy machinery and gears causes the ladder to descend with a slamming noise.

We climb up the ladder in succession and it takes 3 turns to gather up all the coins. All the treasure is loaded into the cart.

With that, we decide to leave and head back to Gren.

Our trip back is uneventful.

Iskandar is keeping the scroll.

We are in Gren and ADAERIL FAILED TO LEARN SLEEP.

We travel through the grasses until it is time to make camp.

We are about a mile from the tower and can see it up ahead. We continue the approach.

As the party re-enters the tower, we check the door and then the stairs. There are two levers sticking out of the ground however before messing with those we first check the chest of drawers for traps.

There is a 40% chance to locate traps. We also check inside the fireplace but it is empty. The drawers contain only cooking and first aid supplies.

Back to the levers, there is one up and one down lever, both offering little resistance. Davlan pulls one down which causes a rattling sound in the chamber.

We head back out to the main area of the tower and find that the trap door is closed. There is no handle. Davlan flips up the other lever and the trap door lifts up.

We head down the trap door and descend down a stair case using a bullseye lantern which shines down the hall. About 5' past the stairs is a thin gutter which runs north to south. It is a few inches deep and 5“ wide. These appear to be shallow ceremonial steps. To the right, we see an alcove built into the wall. The ceiling is higher in the alcove. To the right is a door and we can see that further down the stairs that there is a room with an altar. There is a great lidless eye carved into the altar with a door to the back left side of the room. We also find a big stone door on the north side.

We investigate the channel further and see that it is completely blackened on the inside with a pitch black powder, kind of like ash or soot. The channel runs north to south going from the alcove to the door. Inside of the alcove are black marks spread all around it. There is a change in the ceiling that conceals a great metal pot hanging by a metal chain.

We head to the southern door which is solidly closed. There is a bar that is slammed into the area of a tumbler with a keyhole.

Davlan picks the lock successfully and the bar audibly disconnects. We open the door revealing a room that is dominated by a large bowl of gray powder. The bowl takes up most of the room and has an edge about the rim of it that is raised about a half foot. It is a shallow, disk-like bowl full of this gray white powder. We can see that the channel does not go all the way to the bowl and we also find a bunch of gems on the top of the bowl.

There are also some old dried remnants of organic matter including some pieces of bone and wood that is petrified with age. We pour some water into the bowl and it disappears under the powder, which bubbles slightly but no liquid comes out of the container.

Davlan grabs the gems:

• Aquamarine 800 gp
• Rock Crystal 100 gp
• Brown Eye Agate 10 gp
• Apple Green Crysoprase 50 gp
• Cracked Bloodstone 45 gp

We also find some rare woods and some bones of different animals used for creating potions or scroll inks. A spear is dumped into the powder which hits stone beneath. Suddenly, we hear soft whispers of indecipherable things we do not understand…and then it fades.

The eye symbol on the altar is a known symbol of Bel.

Brindle starts tipping over the bowl and then heaves the bowl on its side, all the powder pours out in a great cloud. He takes a couple whiffs and feels some discomfort due to inhaling the powder. Now, the entire disk is on its side.

Brindle decides that they want to destroy this altar of Bel so he rolls the wheel out and angles it to shatter the altar. When he pushes it down the stairs, an awful noise is created. There is a cracked step and then crashes into the altar. The disk snaps in half and this also breaks the altar.

There is a a splash heard from northern alcove and then, sparks fly out of nowhere. There is a wall of flame that shoots up along the channel. The flames grow tall and there is no sign of the flames stopping.

Suddenly, the stone door opens and several armed Skeletons pour into chamber.

Adaeril casts Protection from Evil…or tries to.

Our Clerics start their Turn Undead attempts and FAIL!

Iskandar fires off a Magic Missile which destroys one of the Skeletons.

We can see that there is a pot that releases liquid into the channel, or trough, and the trickle keeps continuing. There is no obvious way to get up there.

Our attacks only do half damage on Skeletons and there are 7 total Skeletons.

Kaliphas takes 6 damage and loses his spell. Mordicai is struck by a Skeleton and goes down at -4 hp! HE IS SLAIN!

There are 4 attacks against Adaeril with one hit dealing 1 damage, Randimir bashes one with his mace and kills it.

Davlan reaches out and grabs the big steel pot. Then, with a lot of force he moves the pot. There is snap and crack on metal as he pulls the pot back and it is no longer pouring. The flames will now go out after 1 round.

Randimir heals Iskandar for 2 hp.

Iskandar takes 6 damage and also goes down, but he is unconscious.

Meanwhile, Davlan destroys one using a morning star. Adaeril also destroys one.

After a couple rounds, we shatter and destroy the remaining Skeletons. Eventually the flames have gone down and the altar lies destroyed. The wheel is smashed in half next to it.

The altar was made of a dark stone and did not have a back compartment. There was only the simple altar in here along with the stone door to the north. It is just an empty chamber filled with dust. To the left is the door that has a lock like the one the wheel was in.

At this point, we take our fallen comrades and depart back for Gren.

We arrive in Gren without incident.

VELLA SLOAN joins us.

We are heading back up to the Tower of the Fire Drake.

Our first night camping goes by without incident but Brindle Bronzehand has left.

We return down to the tower trap door. As we are about to open the door, a Giant Spider leaps out from the shadows at us!

The Giant Spider misses Vella, luckily as the huge insect towers over all of us.

In the next round, the Giant Spider attacks Kaliphas who takes 7 damage. Vella is also bitten and then falls to the ground, DEAD, overtaken by the Spider's poison.

We eventually destroy the Giant Spider and Vella Sloan lies dead…

We try to open the door but it is locked and we cannot pick the lock.

Instead, the party heads down the stairs, deeper into the mountainside. We come across another door to the right and a door farther down.

When Davlan walks into the room, his magic sword communicates with him empathically as it pulls him toward the east wall. The sword tells him that there is a secret door. A stone depresses as Davlan pushes something on the wall. His magic sword has a power to detect secret doors.

Something attacks us…

Kaliphas has an AC 3, then an attack against Randimir next. They are all misses against Kaliphas and Randimir as they are attacked by something immaterial.

We can see a big mound in the center of the room and the Shadows in the torchlight are moving. They are fended off by single blow as Davlan hits one for 6 damage.

Adaeril takes 1 damage and loses 1 point of Strength. Adaeril casts Protection From Evil.

Davlan destroys another one of the Shadows and the other one flees up the stairs. Davlan charges and does 10 damage, then does 6 damage and then finally 8 damage with his magic sword.

Both of the Shadows are destroyed.

We check out the strange earthen chamber and the pile. It looks like the mound existed since time immemorial. Adaeril strikes inside the mound with his sword and strikes a body. Inside the mound is a corpse that is wearing a full suit of leather armor. It also wears a silver chain laden with green gems that seem to sparkle. There are also many coins strewn about the corpse inside the mound.

• 2900 sp.
• Silver chain with green gems.
• Pitch black leather armor.

The leather armor is made of an unusual material and it is Human sized armor.

We head back to Gren with the body of Vella and the others who need to rest.

Back in Gren, we distribute our treasure and magic items.

Randimir detects a strong magic aura from the bone tube we found and the leather armor radiates with a strong magic. The necklace and gems do not radiate any magic.

Inside of the tube is a WOODEN WHITE WAND but there are no instructions, only an engraving of four words on the wand. The handle is round and smooth. The words are Dazzle, Glow, Shine, Burst. We surmise that this could be a Wand of Illumination.

We decide to sell the Black Leather Armor for 7,500 gp.

For the first half of the session:

The total XP from treasure is 520.

Divided 6 ways, we each get 100 platinum, 4 gold, 8 silver.

There is one share of 59 platinum, 4 gold, 8 silver, an aquamarine, rock crystal, brown eye agate, apple-green crysoprase, cracked blood-stone

For the second part of the session:

The total XP from treasure is 2108.

Divided 6 ways, we each get 408 platinum, 4 gold, 8 silver, 5 copper.

The total is 2629 xp from treasure.

XP from treasure: 607.

Treasure split 5 ways: 117 platinum, 3 gold, 9 silver, 3 copper.

1 share of 76 platinum, 3 gold, 9 silver, 3 copper, rock crystal, brown eye agate, apple-green crysoprase, cracked blood-stone

For the second part of the session:

XP from treasure: 2529.

Treasure split 6 ways: 490 platinum, 3 gold, 2 silver, 6 copper.