The stairs consume a few hours before someone finally takes the plunge – and one by one they step through a portal into a strangely austere room, Large and featureless aside from a fountain and the script-covered wall behind it. The group decides to rest here, and avail themselves of the cool and refreshing water. The wall is investigated and there are more questions raised than answered. They overnight in the tower and determine there are no exits. So, they planeshift twice to reach Luskan, They immediately teleport back to one of the stilt houses they explored earlier, this one cut off from the other buildings. They hope to have avoided anyone/anything watching them while they chew on the new information they have discovered.
Alas, it seems not, so various party members report disturbing dreams where it seems that they are being contacted by someone/thing. The messages are a bit garbled, but it means someone is aware of their presence and that is a bit disconcerting. Nothing to be done about it at the moment, so it is time to resume poking around.
From the hidey hole, they descend the stairs again to return to the general area they were exploring earlier. They bypass the iron golems and go to examine the door. Apparently, this is a false door, though it is uncertain why such a device is needed at the end of such a long hallway – unless it is to keep you busy while the iron golems attack! Whew – that is not it!
Reversing course, they travel into the scene of a vast slaughter – one of the recurring themes of this place, it would seem. A carpet of dead lies before them and they go about investigating, courtesy of Malchor’s radiant dome. Though much of the slaughter is old, there are fresh blood spoors and when the head ascends a narrow stair, they encounter bits of flesh – hacked and strewn about.
The reason becomes clear as the head rounds the final turn. At the top of the stairs is a shattered door and behind the door is a sort of ambulatory eggbeater. Bits of flesh and the spray of viscera show that the eggbeater shredded some unfortunate souls in the not-too-distant past.
Now is the time for walking on wind, and the group speeds past the eggy menace to explore what was clearly a war-room. Tables with charts and army markers stand about. Narrow slits overlook the approaches to the area and the stair and golem defense mechanism is formidable. Alas, there aren’t many clues here and even fewer riches, so the party flies onward and down a hall that the head scouter earlier. Beyond lies a village that is sealed off from the rest of the area. It is populated by bodies and the general implications are that the villagers sealed themselves off from the troubles in the towering city, but eventually turned on each other. The group solidifies in a distillery – at Elulyn’s request – and it is then that the undead reanimate and launch an attack…which is quickly ended.
They proceed on and discover guard posts, ready rooms and a shielded opening of battlements that are high in the air above the main entrance. Cannonballs in pyramidal piles are ready to be rolled down ramps and onto attackers. The head goes outside and discovers cyclopean soldiers manning yet another set of battlements. The head avoids detection and continues to gather information until the spell ends. Once again, the group muses about the size of this place – what a feat of engineering or what powerful raw magics were used to shape this place? Moving along, the group surprises a large demon and the druid’s bug swarm devours it immediately. Guess the old alligator earns his keep occasionally. When it is time to go up rope and sleep again, Malchor readies himself to make contact with whatever entity roams through his dreamscape as he dozes off…
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