Previously the party had added a bard and made sort of a loose binding verbal contract to help and Elven mage named Ramalad.
When the mage called with an offer of looting an abandoned wizard tower and the party could not turn that down. Well they could and then it would have been a much different night had they done that.
A quick grabbing of essentials and they were ready to be whisked away to the tower of one Heninrich “the Mad Enchanter.”
They ported into the tower basement/vault. Ramalad was down due to the strain of the teleport. The group took a quick room inventory: big chest, creepy looking plinth with an eerie red glow, stairs going up, a book on a pedestal and a giant stone and crystal statue.
Well the group went about exploring the room, and then the statue began to talk shouting warnings. Did they listen? No.
Morgan, the group mage, made a move for the plinth and saw it had a pretty normal looking medallion on it. Well he made an attempt to touch it and suddenly his hand was wracked with pain and had aged a few decades. He quickly removed his hand and the effect wore off. Ramalad verbally lashed out at Morgan that he was to not touch the amulet. That is what he was here to retrieve.
Meanwhile the dragonborn thief took time look at the book in the pedestal. It was large and locked. Well of course he was going to try and unlock the book. Which lead to his setting off a trap? As he stood there being electrocuted, the statue animated and moved toward the party. It was still shouting warnings as it began to try and pummel the party.
Then the fight went a bit sideways……
The bard began casting some spell trying to shatter the crystal with sound. The mage did his grease spell and that had some effect. The thief hooked the spell book with a grappling hook and rope. The then tossed it at the statue, which did absolutely nothing.
Well the book did fall into the grease and get sloppy. The bard then tried to blind the statue which had no effect contrary to what he believed should have happened. The monk and barbarian did the heavy lifting during the fight, until a giant bolt of lightning from the eleven mage did crippling damage to the construct. This and the fighters’ attacks brought the statue to the ground. Ramalad sat down to recover his strength for the return teleport, if the party survived.
The thief went to unlock the chest after the fight and did quite easily; however, he missed the trap that was associated with the lock. He was signed by electricity again. The loot was tossed in a rucksack and the party moved on up the tower.
They then discovered a magical room full of blooming flowers and plants of every variety. There was also a giant fountain in the center of the room. After a quick investigation, they discovered a pair or water wyrds that were in the fountain. A fight ensued that was one way the monsters hit only a single time (yeah I rolled that poorly against four different targets).
The tower subtly shook after that fight, but nobody seemed to notice, or more likely care.
They made it up into the main entry way next. A giant room full of banners, coats of arms, giant Grecian stone columns, two huge wooden doors and six suits of very elaborate and shiny plate mail along the walls. The main doors we locked and were not budging. While everyone was discussing options, the monk found and opened a door secreted away. As he opened it the armor sprung to life and began attacking the party. The suits were easily dispatched and the group moved onward and upward.
The tower shudders.
They arrived next in a room that had seen better days. Large portions of the wall had been destroyed letting the elements inside the room that was a very large library and elaborate knowledge repository. Around the room there were animated brooms constantly sweeping, feather dusters cleaning shelves, books that were levitating, papers that were flying around the room, and wall sconces that flickered on and off. As the party made their way through the room they were randomly attacked by books. Brooms swatted at them as the swept by. Feather dusters attacked their faces. Even the small flickering flames shot out in an attempt to burn them. The mage stopped to gather a series of books and papers, everyone else moved quickly through the room being attacked the whole way.
Next they came upon an empty room save for a few glowing green globes along the wall, a desiccated corpse and a strange rune inscribed circle on the floor.
As people made their way through the room, the glow globes would unleash damaging magical bolts of energy. A few people were struck, but they continued onward. The body looked to be a long dead mage, no big deal until they messed with it. This caused a shadowy spectral figure to rise up and attack the party. It wasn’t much of a fight except that the wraith drained a substantial amount of life force from the barbarian before it was dispatched.
More tower shuddering.
Before the fight, the thief had decided to leap into the magical circle and quickly realized it was a one way trip. He was trapped there. Now the game of what to do began. There were attempts to throw stuff at him to see what would happen. The thief began to use a mining pick (why he has that I’m not quite sure….) to try and dig his way out. The barbarian, frustrated, walked into the circle and was then stuck as well. Now it was up to the monk, bard and mage to try and figure out what the deal was. Eventually, they discovered that the runes on the floor were possibly part of a combination. The group manipulated them and activated an elevator. Everyone else leapt on and up they went.
This guy morphed with that guy.....
.... equals what I was going for with Heinrich
The next room was a disaster of broken weapons, gear, body parts, metallic and glass bits, foul smelling smoking alchemist stuff, and a giant flesh/metal construct that was in a constant state of mumbling. They had found what had to be Heinrich. He was not dead after all. He had created a body made of flesh and metal and apparently transferred himself into it. He was now basically a cyborg mage and boy was he ever excited to see the party.
As they conversed he randomly spat out nonsense and information while sizing up the group or working on experiments in the lab. Eventually they mentioned the amulet and it sort of set him off. See he needed that item to help with his crazy experiments. He was going to be sure and get it back.
Melee ensued.
Heinrick's new body might have cost him the majority of his spell casting ability, but it made up for that with his damage soaking and self-repair potential. As damage was taken he has various metal vestigial arms that would repair the damage. He was also able to channel some of his arcane power into a bolt of lightning. This was probably useful for trying out those dead Frankenstein-like experiments. His arms were infused with magic and metal and that gave his some close combat attacks as well. He was no slouch in combat, be he was pure warrior either.
Heinrich stuck with a bolt of lightning that tore through the mage and dropped the thief (an occurrence that is becoming common one attack hitting both the thief and mage). The dragonborn lay on the floor motionless. The mage was a bit singed. The monk and barbarian set about swatting and punching at cyborg Heinrich. The bard began his sonic shatter sound attack spell to try and breakup the constructed body as well. Eventually, the cyborg wizard went to the ground. It was noticed that his body was still attempting to repair itself. That didn’t last long as the barbarian continued to smash the corpse until it was no more than a pile of bloody bits and hunks of metal. The thief was revived and up, but a bit worse for wear. The rest of the party was a bit battered and bruised, but living.
The tower started to shake more violently and the stonework was beginning to crack.
The party took stock of the room and started grabbing anything that didn’t look busted or in a state of ill repair. They also found another hidden door that opened upon another set of stairs. As the followed them up, they could smell the outside and feel fresh air upon their faces.
They walked out to the top of the tower. It had once been some sort of living quarters, but was now all but destroyed. There were parts of one wall remaining. The other walls were gone. A large section of the roof had collapsed and was a pile of shingles and rubble. At the far end of the room, was a large pile of building material, wood, grass, sticks and other bits of detritus. The barbarian and monk went to investigate. Then a loud screeching roar was heard from the sky. It seems that a wyvern had decided to nest within the ruined tower top. As the two warriors searched the nest they found two eggs and nabbed them. Then they ran for the staircase. The wyvern dove at them. The monk took a hit from the claws of the beast. The creature’s bite and deadly tail missed them both. The two made it safely to the stair case as the not dragon roared in rage at the theft of its progeny.
The tower was in poor shape. The ceilings were starting to fall, the walls were cracking. The footing was getting questionable. They group made a dash to find Ramalad and escape.
The Elven mage kept true to his word and was able to open a return portal back to Stonekeep. As the party left they could look back into the mirror and see the total and epic collapse of the tower of Heinrich “The Mad Enchanter.”
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