• Kradosk Gort - Half-Orc ASN1, AC 5/7
• Ardruin - Dwarf FTR1 / THF1
• Reichgard - MAG1
• Fenric - CLR3 / ASN3, AC 3/4
• Dan - MAG5
• Belgeil Lightfoot - Dwarf FTR1 / THF1, AC 5 or 6 (shield)
• Oswald - CLR3

In the Valley of the Red Sun is the Tower of the Forgotten Master…

Iona has Paid 300 upkeep.

We hired 3 Porters and 2 Linkboys. We also have 3 Heavy Footmen (with splint mail and a shield), AC 3.

The Tower stands at the edge of the flatter fields in the Red Sun Valley. Beyond it is the small lake, just a few miles past the tower. There is also a Volcano behind it some miles to the north west.

It is getting cold but there is no snowfall yet.

We head out over the valley and after a couple of hours, the Tower approaches.

To the west is a fen area and the Tower is backdropped by some hills. We can see the edge of a forest some distance away.

We find a ridge nearby where we position our party. Belguil approaches the Tower alone to observe it. The rest of us are facing the main entrance. Belguil sees two man-sized people posted outside and there is a canopy set up next to the entrance door. There is a canvas or mound placed on either side of the door.

Belguil watches the canvas and sees a creature with a long neck come out from underneath. Then, one of the Guards opens up the huge tower doors as the creature fully emerges, revealing it to be about the size of a teenage boy with a very long neck. The Guard is holding on to it with a leash and chain.

Occasionally, Belguil sees a Pteradon come out of a hidden area above, which flies out and then soars throughout the valley. When they are spotted throughout the Valley, they always come from the north.

The party sees a flickering light that appears where the Guards are. A torch moves suddenly as we approach and we can see that the creature on the chain is very active. It leaps out from where it is resting and starts flailing in our direction.

Off to the side are our Assassins, Fenric and Kradosk, who have two segments of surprise. The Guards are 16“ away. Kradosk prepares to assassinate and manages to assassinate the Guard and Fenric assassinates the Dinosaur creature.

The Guard had greasy, oily hair and looked like a ruffian as he was partially concealed behind his cloak. He also had a coin purse:

• 13 gp
• 12 sp

We charge into the kitchen in the rear of the Tower and fire arrows at the Guards inside through the back door. The key we found unlocked the door and we rolled to open doors successfully.

Kradosk did 6 damage and Reichgard did 3 damage. The Guard's bodies crash to the floor.

We pull the bodies out to the hole outside and find more coin pouches on them.

• 15 sp
• 12 gp
• 6 gp
• 12 sp
• Longswords
• Medium Shields
• Chainmail

We go to the 3rd floor by going up a spiral stair and find a dark hallway. We also locate some shelves containing a variety of wands. Reichgard scrapes the wands into the sack and they land inside quietly. There were a total of 8 Magic Wands.

Reichgard grabs the metal one with the wooden tips…but rethinks it and he does not.

We open a door to a cramped room with a nightstand and a ceramic mug. Everything is covered in dust. There is a slight smell in the air of a mild perfume near the south door. We push open the south door to another chamber containing 3 comfy looking chairs. There are also some candles set upon small tables that are burning. They create a smoke that fills the room with a misty haze. There is a mild perfume smell in here but we see that the candles do not have any wax and are set in small candle holder trays. The entire room is lined with bookshelves and there are over 100 books.

The books contain a wide variety of topics, like casual reading to a Magic-User. Are the candles producing heat? Yes, but there is no pool of melted wax.

We check inside the seat cushions and Kradosk touches the southern chair. Suddenly, from the chair…a pseudopod extends!

Kradosk tries to slam the door but is surprised for 1 segment. He takes 8 damage in a single blow!

The creature begins to ascend toward the ceiling by propping itself up with a pseudopod. Ardruin charges as the chest stands up on its pseudopod like feet and begins to crawl on the floor. The creature bares its pseudopod to attack in melee.

Ardruin hits and does 13 damage! The rest of the party also does a lot of damage, 29 total. We continue to strike blows and the creature emits a low rumbling noise though it does not fall.

It swings its pseudopod over our Mercenaries but does not strike. However, it does take 9 damage from the Men-at-arms. With this final blow, the chair crumples down on its legs and then falls on its back. Kradosk also falls to the ground…unconscious.

We killed the Mimic and healed Kradosk back up to 1 hp.

Following combat, we look around the room. None of the books radiate any magic but the candles have a faint magic.

We open the east door which opens into a balcony that also opens up to reveal the area below. We can see the great blue crystal that is about 5' in width rising up. It stretches into the ceiling and to the floor. Built around the blue crystal is a great metal cage. The crystal is glowing a blue color and is spaced enough that a man could squeeze between. A staircase goes down into a landing. There is also a balcony on the opposite side too. The room also has three great windows up front.

Checking for magic, we can see that the Crystal is EXTREMELY magical.

We leave a Man-at-arms with the body of Kradosk and head toward the double doors on the other side. Belguil searches for traps but does not find any. Dan's familiar alerts him to a staircase…as 4 Men are trying to get the jump on us!

Dan casts Sleep and it works, the Men fall asleep instantly. Ardruin executes one of them.

There is a candle and candle holder placed on the ground in the center of the room below, where the Men were previously. There is also an elevated platform with a throne on it, which is near the front three windows.

We take one of the sleeping Men prisoner and begin to question him. He is a man from the Thorpe of HARDIN, which is a settlement of hardy folk. The Forgotten Master came to their Thorpe to offer a reward in exchange for protection of the Tower. He tells us that the Forgotten Master told them not to touch anything but he does not know anything of the mystery of this tower.

He continues explaining that their entire Thorpe may have died if he did not leave to serve the Forgotten Master. There is a nearby Chasm that is ruled by a Vampire and a swamp that is full of Brigands. They want protection from those within Dead Man's Stone.

There is a burst of fire and we notice keys in the kitchen below. We can only see the doors for a patrol on the first 6 levels but they do not travel any higher. We do not approach the crystal but we bring our prisoner down to the kitchen. He says there is a hidden compartment that holds keys and sure enough, we find a couple of keys attached to some leather.

As we head outside, we release the prisoner who runs off. At that moment, we hear a mighty caw as he flees away from the tower. A Flying Dinosaur screeches loudly and dive bombs the fleeing Hardin man.

We loose arrows, trying to strike the Pteradon. The Pteradon attacks and slams into the man while the door closes behind as we hit it for 4 damage. It still lives.

Fenric finds some jerked meats and poisons one of the cured meats. Meanwhile, Kradosk is now awake and no longer unconscious but feels like a Gorsin just hit him. Our Mercenary is tending to his wounds.

We head back inside to avoid the Pteradon.

We head back toward one of the doors and Fenric searches but does not find any traps on the door. He looks around and primarily looks at the bone throne in the larger room on the second floor. Next, he gets next to the crystal and searches, find that there is actually a trap on the floor in front of the crystal. It looks like a 20' section of the floor is trapped here though there are no traps on the throne itself.

Ardruin unlocks the door with the key we found. Going inside, the first thing we see is a mural. The mural follows up a series of stairs that rise to places unknown and it depicts a splendorous Wizard, raising his arms amongst a field of Dinosaurs. They appear to be kneeling to the Mage as light illuminates their eyes. The red sun from the Valley outside glows through the black smog partially illuminating the area.

We go up the stairs and find ourselves in a wide hallway. There is a door on the left and then another door on the left. The hallway eventually thins out where another door is. We check the first door on the left and open it. The room inside is filled with ferns and among the ferns is a Dinosaur!

The Dinosaur is dead, completely unmoving with a stuffed, dead rat in its mouth. There are other stuffed Dinosaurs in here, three smaller Dinosaurs perched on stone eggs. We notice some small emeralds in their eyes that flicker in our torch light. Amongst the strange Dinosaurs are two small skeletons.

The main one is about 12' long and resembles a Deinonychus. Ardruin examines the eggs for traps but nothing comes up. Nothing strange at least. The emeralds look valuable though they are somewhat small. They are posed in a particular way and the big Dinosaur looks robust.

We try to knock over the small raptor with a 10' pole and the two Skeletons begin to stir!

We quickly go out the back with the emerald eyes and carrying lots of books, about 3000 coin worth.

Nobody is surprised. We are attacked by a Dinosaur and two Guards!

Our mercenary slays the Raptor and the two Guards are HELD magically by Dan. There are no shapes that show themselves as we flee…

We make it back to Starling.

3 of the wands we have collected have command words. Dan Tests one out. As he zaps the wand, nothing happens. There is no reaction. There is also no magic detected on any of the wands.

• The emeralds are worth 25 gp each.
• The book collection is worth 3500 gp if we sell it to a Sage.
• We can get 28 gp for the Herb Books
• The candles are 30 gp each. They are magical and a flick of the wick will cause them to light up.

We each get:

• 4x 99 platinum, 1 electrum, 3 silver, 4 copper, 1 small emerald
• 2x 148 platinum, 2 gold, 2 electrum, 3 silver, 4 copper, 2 small emeralds

• XP from coin for the first part: 536
• XP from coin, the second part: 793

• Reichard/Belguil each get 938 xp.
• The rest of us get 683 xp.

• 126 xp for Jack's character for the assassination.