Oolong, a Troglodyte, the Tower, a charred corpse, a tiger beetle, the butler.
Persons mentioned in the text:- KYLE, a level 4 Halfling
- GRACE, a level 3 Dwarf
- ARMAND, a level 5 Cleric
- GREGG, a level 4 Fighter
- KENNETH, a level 4 Thief
- TIMON, a level 1 Fighter
- SELENE, a level 2 Elf
- ZORION, a level 1 Elf
- PERSEPHONE, a level 1 Elf
The month of AMETHYST, second month of the year 1120 Anno Daedalus
The place:
FENNBURGH, a swamp town in the GREYMARSH, on the continent of KATHON, on the planet YRTH.
FLORYMONDE'S TOWER, the crumbling tower of a long-dead sorceress, situated beside the RIVER GREY and near the town of FLUME.
After the Battle at Fennburgh, Our Heroes celebrated with the town and spent much silver carousing with the villagers. Sieur Gregg the Hero decided to retire in Fennburgh, serving as a master-of-arms for the Frog-Giggers’ Guild. Grace the Dwarven Swordmistress also retired. Two new elves joined the party, Persephone and Zorion. Well-rested and fresh-faced, they turned their attention to the rumors of a Rot Giant stomping around the south-western swamps. They rode out, but got lost in the fens and ended up outside the Tower of Florymonde once again. Camping outside the tower were six ogres, which Our Heroes ambushed and slew.
After a brief rest and heal-up, Kenneth the thief decided to scale the tower. As far as they could tell from the outside, there were three floors and a bit of spire sticking up. The eastern side of the third floor had crumbled away and been exposed to the elements. As Kenneth poked around the outside of the third floor, he found a tea room with its eastern wall ripped away. A talking teapot surprised him. The teapot introduced himself as Oolong, and after Kenneth determined that Oolong was charmed and could not leave the confines of the tea room (attempting to bring him past the boundaries of the room would cause Oolong to halt in the air as if he hit a wall), he tied a rope around Oolong and used him as an anchor for his friends to climb up as well.
Our Heroes spent a few minutes talking to Oolong, sitting on the edge of the tearoom and swinging their legs as the sun rose. Oolong seemed to have no concept of time and believed that Florymonde, the mistress of the tower, was due to return any second. No-one had the heart to tell him that Florymonde died over a century ago. They questioned Oolong about his knowledge of the tower, but his understanding was limited to the making of tea, although he did warn them about a stern butler, who was “blue.” Our Heroes used Oolong to brew some tea, then thanked him for his help and explored the second floor of the tower.
In one room, they found a crystal ball next to a charred and reeking corpse. Kenneth let off an arrow at it, and it disintegrated in a blue flash upon striking the ball. Our Heroes decided to leave the ball alone, but apparently the noise had disturbed some creatures in the next room, because when they went to leave, a troupe of Troglodytes blocked their path! The stench nauseated much of the party. Persephone and Zorion helped one another escape through a hole in the ceiling as the rest of the party fought bravely. Selene and Zorion cast a magical sleep spell on the Troglodytes, and the rest of the party made short work of them. The last survivor tried to run away, but Kenneth wounded him with an arrow, and Our Heroes followed his blood trail into the next room, where they found him dying and clutching a heavy sack full of electrum pieces.
In this room, there was a door to the south with a chair wedged under it. Armand knocked on the door, and a hollow-sounding voice asked to be freed from the room. The voice introduced itself as the butler. Our Heroes unblocked the door and found that the butler was an animated suit of cobalt-colored armor. Although more intelligent and less friendly than Oolong, and with greater freedom of the tower, the butler also seemed to be under the impression that Florymonde was away on business. He attempted to clean the Troglodyte blood with a rag that was so old and rotted it was barely more than a thin scrap of cloth.
Our Heroes left the butler to his business, and explored some more of the tower. On the third floor, they found a staircase up to the very top of the tower, but it was guarded by six tiger beetles. In the ensuing melee, Zorion the elf was cut in twain by the strong mandibles of the tiger beetles. Our Heroes gained the upper hand and chased the beetles down a hallway that ended in open air, and the beetles scrambled down the outside of the tower. Exhausted, they agreed to camp there, wedging the door shut and letting the cool breeze soothe them as they watched the skies darken.
No comments:
Post a Comment