Five Tower Keep Session 30: 03/28/2019 The Ruins of Horcton

We begin this week’s session as we step foot into the ruined church of Pelor, Mesha immediately feels the stain of the coven similar to what we’ve encountered before. It is a place of evil and darkness both literal and metaphorical; it smells of viscera from the blood of many sacrifices. Also located here is the other discordance that Melderon senses so strongly and confirms the mirrors are the terminals causing it.

Looking around at the irregular room we have found ourselves in, our characters almost immediately hear a small bell of alarm on the other side of the only door from this room. Our characters begin preparatory measures and notice that Shystermeth is nowhere to be found, our partnership at an end. 

Mesha is the first to step out into a hall with two passages veiled in magical darkness leading off in the same direction and a third that seems to lead outside; from out of this darkness lumbering giants, husbands of the hags, emerged along with a very pregnant drow woman. Battle ensues and it gets serious and bloody very quickly.

The drow woman attempted to transform Stoutwood into a chimpanzee and tries to feeblemind Melderon, but eventually Melderon anticipates the drow woman’s moves and feebleminds her instead. Sonayo descends on the feebleminded drow woman killing her. Soon our characters are able to drop three of the giant husbands before one flees.We gather the bodies of the giants and the drow.

Our characters retreat briefly into the mirror room to heal before we head forward towards the late afternoon light and a passage. We come out at the base of a stone ziggurat in the midst of the ruins of Horcton. Scanning about the ruins we see a few still standing structures but all the rest are over grown rubble. Our characters take cover under the over growth while Melderon expends a fly ability and scouts around.

The ruins look blackened and soured, fouled and spoiled. The next closest visible structure is an open stone shelter (#8 on the map) where four giants are huddled. #2 looks like a double towered gate house about fifty feet high; the walls having crumbled away. Here Melderon identifies an obvious hag lair.

Our characters head out to about 100 yards outside of Horcton where Melderon erects a couple of magical rope tricks for us to rest and examine drow items: 

One of the items is evil, a scarf/viel (and cursed)- we leave it behind. Otherwise she was in possession of a cloak of resistance +2 (Alaric) as well as three type I bags of holding: one containing an amount of scrolls, the second has numerous wands, and the third bag has spellbooks and several magic rings.

The drow word a ring of flying (Mesha) and a ring of see invisibility (Alaric)

In the ring bag are a ring of invisibility, (2nd) ring of see invisibility (Stoutwood), (2nd) ring of fly, ring of water breathing, and a ring of earth glide (Melderon) 

In the wand bag are wands each at 30 charges: 

Invisibility, see invisibility, magic missile, fly, dispel magic, lighting bolt, deep slumber, hold person, haste, water breathing, lesser globe of invulnerability, charm monster, confusion, malicious spite, lesser geas. 

The spell book (along with two scrolls of each spell):
1- Identify, charm person, sleep, hypnosis, shield, mage armor, prot from good, alarm, magic missile, color spray,

2- daze monster, touch of idiocy, darkness, invisibility, see invisibility, rope trick, web

3- fly, dispel magic, lighting bolt, deep slumber, hold person, water breathing, haste

4- lesser globe of invulnerability, charm monster, confusion, malicious spite, lesser geas, earth glide, stone shape

5- break enchantment, constructing coils, feeblemind, dominate person, baleful polymorph, transmute mud to rock, permeancy, dark vault.

We begin next game session with the intention of returning to the ziggurat.