The Tower of Asflag

Our story so far:

Once in Shadowdale, out heroes attempt to meet with Elminster to attempt to raise their fallen comrades, Jordan and Dalin. After discovering he is not at his home, the party goes to the Temple of Chauntea and learns he is there, but is not to be disturbed. However, they are told he should be back at the temple and available the next day. After a restful night at the Old Skull Inn, our heroes return to temple only to learn that Elminster has abruptly left Shadowdale, his whereabouts unknown. Returning to his home, the party speaks to his aide, who also does not know where the great mage has gone. His aide is able to tell the party that there is a priestess with the ability to perform a Raise Dead, but not a Resurrection. Knowing it has been too long for a Raise Dead to work, the party sadly accepts the fact that Jordan and Dalin are lost to them forever. Our heroes stay another night at the inn and are faced with a big decision.

Vera, the evil magic-user who possesses the remaining Shard of the Day, the Shard of Twilight, is known to be in Dagger Falls, a town a few days north of Shadowdale. Tiron, (now) the Righteous, wants desperately to retrieve the other Shard. Raphael, and his apprentice Rolonda, want to go to Ashabenford, a town almost two tendays southeast of Shadowdale, for spell research. Cel would also like to go to Ashabenford to perform research on the object of her quest (in her pre-party days), the Arm of Valor. Deciding there's little chance of Vera obtaining all three Shards and the hemisphere in the near future, the party decides to head to Ashabenford, setting out the next morning.

After eighteen days of cold, snowy travel, the town is a welcome sight to our band of weary travelers. Kathrynn, the ranger who, along with Raven, recently joined the party, voices her desire to soon leave the party and head north to help battle the Zhentarim forces which have been overruning the towns there. Since Raphael and Rolonda will need a few weeks for their spell research and Cel three days, she is persuaded to stay with the party, at least until Cel completes her research. Looking for adventure, the remaining five take a look at the message board. One message catches their eye:

Reward! The mayor of Serin is offering a 2000 GP reward to each person who helps kill the mysterious creature terrorizing the town at night.

Serin, located on the southern edge of a great forest, spans the Ashaba River and is a very prosperous town. Its distinctive feature is the five towers which dominate the town's skyline, each home to a powerful wizard. It is these wizards which keep the town safe from the creatures in the woods just outside of town. Our heroes are able to meet with the mayor and he explains the situation. "All was peaceful here until about a month ago when a mummy began appearing in Serin, but only at night. For days, he would kill one or two people per night, then disappear until the next night, when the vicious cycle would start anew. Strange lights and noises were seen coming from the tower of the wizard Asflag, and the other wizards were either unable (or unwilling) to investigate. Finally, a brave fighter came to us and was able to douse the mummy in oil, light it on fire, and vanquish it. For several days our town returned to normal. Then, one night a couple of tendays ago, there were once again reports of the strange lights and noises from the tower. The next morning, a local farmer reported two of his livestock had been butchered, apparently by some sort of wild animal. Further investigation revealed a trail of blood leading to, you guessed it, Asflag's tower. An attack has been reported every night since then. What if Asflag is creating these terrible creatures? He must be stopped! Order must be restored here! I want you to go Asflag's tower and bring me Asflag and the body of the animal which has been doing these awful things! Only when I have proof will you be paid!" The party agrees to his terms and sets out for the tower.

After verifying the trail of blood does indeed lead to Asflag's tower, the party attempts to gain access to the walled-in area surrounding the tower through one of its two doors. The door is very impressive, its most distinctive being the knocker shaped like a bull's head. Delf, after finding no traps on the door, attempts to pick the lock. "None today, thank you!" "Hey! The knocker just talked!" someone in the party exclaims. "None today, thank you!" the knocker again yells. "Shut up, you son of a..." Suddenly, a cone of flame erupts from the door enveloping Delf! "There goes your commission!" ribs the door. "Delf! You okay?" "Yeah, fine... it was just a low grade flame cone. Let's go... it's unlocked now."

Picking up the trail of blood again, our heroes pass by six statues. "Oh great, lifelike statues. They'll never animate..." someone states sarcastically. Right on cue, the six gargoyles (not statues!) attack the party. The gruesome beasts are overwhelmed quite easily, however, and our heroes follow the trail of blood around the back of the tower to a door. "Hey look, a doggie door!" "That ain't for no stinkin' doggie!" The trail of blood leads right through the small door. Tiron decides to cast a Wyvern Watch just outside of the door at sunset, and the party settles in for the night, confident the trap will work. After all, the town has been attacked for twenty straight days...

The morning arrives with the rising sun but no creature sighted all night. Realizing the Wyvern Watch is blocking the door, Delf allows himself to be caught in it to make it go away. (Remarkably, no one messes with Delf as he stands there!) Delf is once again able to pick a lock and the party steps into the tower.

The party is faced with three choices: a door to the left, stairs leading down, or a door to the right. At the bottom of the stairs is a smashed-in door, which our heroes go through. The room they enter has a door with a broken lock. This door opens into an L-shaped room, the far side of which contains two Displacer Beasts and pile of what look to be animal remains. The beasts are able to inflict some damage on Delf and Kathrynn before they are finally killed. A closer examination of the fetid pile reveals both animal and human remains. The party reasons that these creatures must be the ones attacking Serin, but decide to explore the rest of the tower before reporting their findings to the mayor.

Another room, a bedroom, contains a mummy. Tiron attempts to turn it but fails. "That should have worked! This may not be a normal mummy!" The mummy attacks Tiron, who attempts to back away, but finds he cannot, as he is somehow stuck to the mummy! Desperate, Tiron pulls himself free and casts Flame Blade, driving it into the chest of his adversary. The mummy's bandages ignite, and it falls to the ground. "What was that sticky gunk on it?" "I don't know! Let's clear out... that thing's really starting to smoke up the hallway!"

After finding nothing else in the basement besides an Ettercap (a web-secreting creature with fangs and long, sharp claws), the party returns to the ground level a finds a huge ballroom and a stairwell leading up into the tower. The stairway leads into Asflag's library, a huge circular room with bookshelves arranged in concentric circles. At the entrance to the innermost circle is a black cat, sitting quietly. Tiron casts Speak With Animals to talk with the feline, while Delf sneaks around it to see what is in the center of the room. Delf spots two very impressive looking spell books and returns to the party. Tiron learns the cat is here to guard the library and knows not where his master is. The party decides that a simple cat in a wizard's home is in all likelihood not a simple cat, and continues their search of the tower.

Another flight of stairs leads to another, smaller, circular room with twelve stone columns around its perimeter and a magical circle surrounded by candles in its center. Closer examination of the circle reveals many vicious scuff marks on one part of its perimeter, evidence that something Asflag had summoned had escaped its magical containment. A search of the room reveals a trap door in the ceiling, some twenty feet above the floor. Raven levitates up towards it, but halfway up sees snakes resting on each of the twelve columns and quickly drops back to the floor, her tumbling proficiency saving her from any damage she might have otherwise taken. It seems like these aren't normal snakes at all. Normal snakes don't attack from above, flying at their prey like reptilian javelins. These do. More nuisance than anything else, the snakes are quickly killed. Raven once again levitates up to the trap door and opens it. The other side of the door has a handle and Raven attaches a rope to it. She then enters the room.

"The wizard's bedroom!" exclaims Raven. Another circular room, the bedroom's center is taken up by a large bed, a wooden chest at its foot. Four glass doors leading out onto a balcony offer a dazzling view of the surrounding countryside. "Come on up!" Raven yells. Delf, eager to see what Asflag might have up there, climbs up the rope and into the room. Crash! All four windows shatter inwards simultaneously. Two gargoyles swoop through each window. Delf dives back through the trap door, crashing to the floor twenty feet below. Poor Raven, overwhelmed and fighting panic, manages to cast Stinking Cloud, centered on her! This action saves her life, as the cloud forces the gargoyles to back away from her. She blindly struggles to the opening, already badly hurt, falls through the trap door, hits the floor and does not move. The gargoyles follow her and our heroes find themselves outnumbered two to one!

Tiron rushes over to the immobile Raven and examines her. "Thank Corellon she's not dead!" Tiron thinks, relieved, as he revives her. Raven manages to crawl behind one of the columns, out of harm's way. Meanwhile, the battle is not going well for our heroes: Brau'ni can't seem to hit anything but open air and Kathrynn goes down after a particularly vicious attack. Tiron is unable to get over to her, his way blocked by a gargoyle. Raven, seeing her friend go down, tries to crawl over to help her. The gargoyle which took Kathrynn down is continuing to attack her! Another gargoyle spots Raven and knocks her unconscious. Delf is able to slay the monster before it can complete the job. Tiron is finally able to extricate himself and works his way over to Kathrynn. "It's too late for her," Tiron laments. "I guess she got her wish to leave the party... just not in the way she would have liked." Tiron is able to get to Raven and once again revive her. Through a pain-filled haze, Raven sees her friend simply wink out of existence. "Kathrynn?" she murmurs through clenched teeth.

Meanwhile, the tide of battle has finally turned in favor of our heroes. Brau'ni has finally found his killing swing, and he, Delf, and Tiron finally take out the last of the gargoyles. They are understandably shocked when Raven tells them of Kathrynn's disappearance. Tiron is able to heal Raven enough to get her back on her feet. Our heroes decide to hole up for the rest of the day and lick their wounds. Luckily, the night is uneventful.

A thorough search of the bedroom reveals nothing more than a crystal ball and the wooden chest at the foot of the bed. The chest contains gold and valuable gems, which the party takes with them. There were a few doors off of the ballroom which were not explored initially, so our heroes head back there. Raven notices a lone violin resting on a podium in the ballroom's orchestra pit. She walks over to it, picks it up and starts playing it. "No!" screams Brau'ni, too late. A strange feeling overpowers Raven, and she continues playing the instrument, gaining speed with each passing second. Brau'ni, Delf, and Tiron are also caught in the curse and begin dancing! (Insert mental picture of an Elf playing a violin and an Elf, Half-elf, and Dwarf dancing to the music!) Luckily for everyone, the curse's effects on the dancers are short-lived and they are able to wrench the violin out of Raven's hands and smash it (though not over Raven's head, as Brau'ni would have liked!)

After a secret passage simply reveals an elevator leading up into a room adjacent to the ballroom and a staircase leading up into the garden outside of the tower, the party wraps the Displacer Beasts up in blankets, leaves the tower, and reports back to the mayor.

The mayor is ecstatic when shown the Displacer Beasts and reveals there have been no reported attacks in Serin the last two nights. With the proof he wanted now in front of him, he gladly pays out the reward, which our heroes gladly accept!

After saying their fare thee wells to the people of Serin, our heroes head back to Ashabenford, and meet up with Cel, Raphael and Rolonda there. Cel shows the party a map she obtained that locates (sort of) the location of DragonDark Tower, where she believes part of the Arm of Valor rests:

To be continued...