04 January 2009

The City That Waits

The Brothers Warbreed, Boris Devilboone, and Warrick Sinister found themselves teleported to a deserted city on the edge of the void, fierce electrical mayhem cascading overhead. The air was dead and bitter cold, and a thick layer of frost covered the towers and thin walkways. Before them, engraved in malachite was a challenge from the lich-god Acererack, daring them to face him in his lair. But first they must brave the many towers of Moil, the City That Waits.

The Tower of Day
The first tower was explored showing the Moilian's worship of the sun before being cursed by Orcus ("why does coinage says us orc again and again"). In this tower they found a chamber with an inscription charging them to initiate the power of Wand of day. Dorun Warbreed touched the middle panel showing the day, unknowingly freeing the wand from its icy prison further in the tower. The group also recovered a golden headband which they would later learn could heal them and allow them to scry the many towers of Moil in the icy thrown. In their exploration they also found the outline of a humanoid figure in the frost, how recently vacated they could not tell. In they end they secured the wand of day.

The Tower of Chance
In this tower they faced their first Moilian zombie, its properties earlier studied by Boris and Warrick in the Black Academy. The Brothers Warbreed were only lightly harmed by the soul feeding zombie's powers before Warrick's eldritch might destroyed the foul deadspawn. They discovered evidence of Desato's presence here as well as a decanter of purity in the casino's bar before discovering a room labelled the Final Game. Here Boris' vampire thrall Absalom used his gaseous form to slip under the door and vanished. The Warbreed broke the door down only to vanish into a cursed mirror above the door. Boris used a magical stone hand to destroy the mirror without being caught in its irresistible reflection, freeing the brothers, a Moilian zombie, Absalom, and an ancient Moilian thief named Lextra. After deactivating the Moilian zombie before it could absorb too much life force they threw it out the window. Using his magical gifts, Boris was able to communicate with Lextra, who had no evil aura, who chose the join the party.
As they explore the tower they found a skeleton incased in clear ice, which suddenly animated and attacked the party. The Warbreed engaged the creature at close range, only to find themselves entangled by blackfire, fueled by their very vitality. Boris called on his hellfire to scorch away not only the winter-wight but the blackfire as well, the trollblood in the brothers allowing them to quickly heal from the inferno.
Later in the tower they found a magical roulette table from which Lextra gained the gift of agility. But even that was not enough for her to deactivate a tantalizingly glowing curio cabinet, which the party was forced to leave behind. Using her skills and Absalom's undead nature the party was able to defeat both a ward of insanity and of death guarding a vaulted, steel valve door. Inside they found another Moilian undead, from which they took arcane gauntlets of armor and the powerful sentinel mask.

The Tower of Portals
The less said about the trials of the maze of this tower the better, gentle reader...

The Aqueous Tower
The fourth tower was naught but cold and brine. Inside a ladder led down into dark, icy salt water. Forwarned by Acererack's posted challenge the party made ready to battle the brine dragon guardian of the Key. Bespelled against cold and water the party entered the depths, traversing the crystalline caverns of the dragon's lair. As they explored the brackish tunnels, Warrick discovered some illuminated runes which activated to dispel their magical boons. Fortunately the Boris might was greater than the magical trap and the party continued unmolested. Finally they came upon the great brine dragon, slumbering in the salty depths. Boris swam forward and launched his wail of the banshee, striking it dead in its sleep. The party collected the dragon's expansive treasure of platinum coin and magical items, including a death scarab and dwarven thrower.

3 comments:

Bip said...

His name is Warrick Sinister (just fyi)

tRANIS said...

Awesome. Running this right now myself, although I don't have quite so much time for recaps. lol
So far I haven't found what level your doing? My guys are ECL 22 atm.

tRANIS said...

doh
campaignhq.blogspot.com