There is the usual round of frantic strategizing about possible plans and options. In the end it is decided that the Lad, Gal, Kormier and Goldpiece will just have to apply the beatdown to the iron maiden iron golem. Malchor and Ofelia will provide cheerleading services.
The battle is pitched and the damage dealt is staggering. Goldpiece nearly is slain when the golem crushes his shoulder, but the cleric is ready to restore him to health. The battle rages for several minutes before the Gal unleashes a series of savage blows that hack the ambulatory torture device into pieces and halts its rampage.
Trapped exits are bypassed with passwall spells and the group briefly surveys a series of holding cells before climbing stairs and entering a ‘conference room’ at the top of the tower. The large room is adorned with skulls – on the walls and on the mantle above a large fireplace. Leather couches – is that human skin?! – are arranged nearby. A large table and chairs sits on the opposite wall. Between them is a large chair made from the skeletal remains of an eight-headed hydra. Maintaining the creepy theme, the chair is also upholstered in human(oid) skins. The group doesn’t dawdle and passes through the last doors, entering a bedroom, lit by s pulsing red light..
One wall holds a small cell and a rack of torture instruments, the other end of the room has a bed, armoire and clothes rack. Between the two is a fireplace and in a niche and in the niche there is a skull. In the skull’s eye sockets there are gems, and the gems pulse with a strange reddish light. The paladin immediately begins to determine if there is evil present – there is!. There is an especially evil patch near the bed! Undead? The cleric’s crown doesn’t light up, so that idea is discounted.
Suddenly the mage is attacked and his strength is drained from his body. Although difficult to see in the low-light conditions, the attacker is revealed when the mage unleashes the staff of brilliance. The group sees a shadowy, twisted figure striking away at the mage, and each blow reduces the hapless wizard’s strength. The party members rally magnificently and although the mage is struck by an errant blow, they manage to defeat the attacker. The staff of security makes a nice space and the group hides out for a few days while the mage returns to good health.
They exit the space and the mage is immediately attacked again!. Better prepared this time, the group manages to inflict a large amount of damage in a short time, causing the creature to seep into the floor. The room is quickly looted of items magical and the cleric opines that the creature may be bound to an object in the room. They settle on the skull of glowing eyes as a likely candidate and bring it down to the torture room, place it in a vise and proceed to twist until it shatters.
This brings about immediate effects. The bottom drops out and it feels like the entire monastery is falling down a mine shaft. There is an unsettling sensation of sideways motion and the monastery smashes into a mountain and redistributes itself around the landscape. Ofelia is killed and the group takes some heavy damage, but are alive.
The cleric restores Ofelia and the intrepid adventurers survey the landscape. The Lad suggests that the night sky is familiar to him and it seems that the party has returned to Impiltur. Still, the stars aren’t quite right. Out of an abundance of caution, they eschew the well traveled ways and stick to the hillside paths to acquire some information. The news stuns them.
It is four centuries (more or less) since they entered the monastery. Impiltur is a province in the far-ranging empire of Coburn – who has absorbed most of the lands in the vicinity. Tyr, Torm and Ilmater are no longer the top dogs of top gods and the main church no longer exists. This realization brings on quite a bit of consternation as the group laments the loss of many items, much gold and more gems. Everyone they knew is dead and all the old ways have been supplanted. Well, for everyone except Goldpiece – who suggests a visit with his family might be in order.
Even the long lived elves aren’t immune to the depredations of the new empire and many elves have decided to relocate to the northwest in order to avoid persecution. Enough elves remain to give Goldpiece and Co. a more complete picture, and the images aren’t pretty. Eventually the group decides to beat feet to a locale that is more welcoming to the lawful good folk and a westward journey begins.
The mage conjures mount spells and acts as aerial reconnaissance. The cleric provides food and water and Ofelia reveals that she has skills with locks and traps and a bit of illusion magic she can provide – now that her land is also long gone, it seems her best chance of survival will be with the group. The group avoids contact with anything they can see and travel for weeks without stopping. Somewhere in the journey, after about a tenday, the Lad slips away in the middle of the night during his watch. There is a debate about pursuit, but the Lad is well aware of the party’s strengths and abilities so in the end they move onward.
They eventually see an armored patrol and take their chances. After they make contact, they learn that they have crossed the border into Cormyr – a well settled land with a well established society. Now what to do?
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