For a week (2/1 – 2/8), the two ships watched the island, sometimes circling it, always looking for signs of life. The tower was made of a dark green/gray stone covered in patches of moss or other growths. It looked old, maybe in danger of crumbling. Three windows wer seen evenly spaced up the tower walls, the first about 10 feet from the ground. No lights were seen from the tower nor from elsewhere on the island. During the day, they saw some animal life. In addition to seabirds, they spotted wild pigs.
Silverfish was sure a part of the ring they must fetch was on the island. The raiders took this at face value, asking few questions. They seemed to accept this mission and all its dangers as destiny. Finally, they boarded a longship and rowed to shore, making land on a beach on the north side of the island. The team consisted of Ollie, Jerker, Urgesh, Aderian, Tienarth, Nate, and Ferris. They made first for the ruins on the east side of the island. Urgesh scouted ahead, then signaled to the group when he surprised three giant scorpions. He backed off to explain what he’d found.
The three arachnids had crawled out of hidden places beneath tumbled stones that were once part of a structure, perhaps a temple. They were basking in the morning sun and easily spotted from the top of a small hill. Jerker and Aderian, both filled with the strength of giants, prepared small boulders which they hurled done on the monsters. Two were killed instantly. The remaining scorpion seemed dazed by the rain of rocks, but soon sensed the direction of the attack and made its way up the gentle slope. Presently, though it was hurt, the scorpion found itself face to face with the two fighters.
Two pincers failed to find purchase on Jerker’s shiny plate armor, but a lucky strike of its tail wedged through a gap to deliver deadly venom. The young warrior stumbled as the toxin raced through his blood. Aderian and Urgesh stepped up to cut down the scorpion, while Ferris produced a dose of anti-venom. Before long, Jerker was his old self again, and ready for another fight.
Next, they made for the tower. At ground level were two doors with heavy iron loops. They applied the strength of giants in pulling the doors open, but they merely groaned under the strain. No visible lock was seen, and Ferris was baffled at unlocking the doors. He soon turned to the idea of climbing up to the window. Carefully, he pulled himself up, over the slimy wall. He found himself in a room with two doors and stairs going both up and down.
Walking down, he found the entire ground floor an open room, 80′ across, filled with various junk. A powerful smell produced a feeling of nausea. The doors, showing no sign of lock or bar, refused to open from inside as well. Ferris returned to the second level. Aderian and Jerker joined him by climbing a rope. Suddenly, a flash of light heralded the strike of missiles on Jerker. He immediately made to exit the tower. Aderian and Ferris followed.
Hocuspo offered a spell of healing for Jerker, who also swallowed a potion. Tienarth relied on his usual trick of becoming a golden dragon with the aid of mirror images. Just then, a deluge of hail pummeled the group standing together about 100′ from the tower. The storm passed as quickly as it came.
Tienarth leapt into the air to survey from on high. Urgesh put his fist into his magic bag and tossed a ball of fluff from it through the second story window. It became a fearsome jaguar but was aimless up in the room, alone. Meanwhile, Tienarth spotted a trap door on the roof the tower open. He saw the face of a skeleton and shrugged off an intense feeling of fear. The bony hand of the skeleton wriggled to produce a spell that send sparkling energy over the dragon. Once again, the elf in dragon form shrugged off powerful magic as he landed on the rooftop. At the same moment, Jerker wrapped his arms around Urgesh and jumped to the top of the tower, shouting “jump back, jack!”
Claws slashed and the dragon maw crunched on the skeleton at the trap door. Urgesh hurled himself at the open trapdoor, tumbling with the skeleton down a set of stairs as the trap door snapped shut behind them.
Aderian boosted Ollie up, and the dwarf held fast to the window ledge. Ferris climbed up the wall and over his back, entering the window. He set up a rope for the rest of them to enter the tower. Nate and Aderian were soon within the tower, too.
Urgesh felt himself fill with rage. He found himself in jail of sort, where lifeless skeletons hung in manacles bolted to the wall. The skeleton slipped from his grasp and uttered a short spell. A portal opened and the skeleton was gone with a whoosh sound. As quickly as the rage began, it left the barbarian who was now feeling tired. He stumbled into the adjoining room where he spied a withered man stretched out on a wrack. Other implements of torture filled the room. “Oh,” the scraggly man cried, “I am hurting!” Jerker descended the stairs and worked the shackles from the old man, freeing him, then taking him up to the roof by carrying him over his shoulder.
Ollie climbed stairs to find an alchemy lab on the third floor and a library on the fourth. Aderian joined him and they ransacked the books, pulling them down to the floor rapidly, still under the power of a haste spell. Three loose sheets of paper stood out from the mess. Ferris picked up one of the sheets and it exploded in his face.
Outside, Tienarth carried Jerker and the old man down to the ground. Zhargrave, the man called himself. He said he was sent to scout the island but was captured by the lich who had been torturing him for days. He was a cleric of the Anointed One and was glad to be saved. He and Hocuspo ran for the longboat at Tienarth’s command.
Urgesh continued to search the torture chamber, perhaps for secret doors. Ollie returned to the lab to search more. He also snatched up three bottles holding some sort of liquid. Aderian descended to the lowest level to search through the garbage. As he did, a spectral shape rose out of the ground. Its sight produced an intense fear. He ran for the doors which now broke apart at his charge. Jerker ran into the tower, faced the ghost and immediately turned to follow Aderian. Ferris and Nate also fled, though by choice rather than naked terror.
Tienarth returned to the tower roof to fetch Urgesh who seemed to be contemplating jumping from 60 feet up. The entire group rushed away from the tower, back to the longboat and back to the ships. That night, Zhargrave told more of his story.
Zhargrave was a cleric with great experience as an adventuring cleric for the church. Many had experienced dreams of an underground labyrinth where a beautiful maiden was trapped. The church sent a party to investigate, and over several months, the tunnels were explored. The party never returned. After a month, Zhargrave lead a second party that found a chamber deep in the tunnels. Near an open capsule lay the bodies of the first party. The capsule was empty.
By speaking with the corpses, Zhargrave learned of a great evil set free from the capsule that promptly killed its rescuers and fled the tunnels, but not before revealing a few hints about where it was headed. After returning with this news, the church sent Zhargrave alone to the southern seas, following one of the clues. Through ardent prayer, he found his way to Carrasthinian’s Isle where he was overtaken by the lich. His possessions were hurled into the ocean for “stinking of goodness”. He was tortured for information, but remained ever faithful, never revealing any details of his mission.
He explained that a lich was a powerful mage who turned to evil forces to empower himself. Zhargrave, having studied all manner of undead and having spent much time with the lich, was sure he’d identified it as such.
End Notes
- Treasure
- 3 bottles taken by Ollie
- Combat:
- 3 Giant Scorpions 840 xp
- Characters 120 xp each
- Aderian (fight, strength, human) 134 xp
- Ferris (dexterity, human) 133 xp
- Jerker (fight, strength, protect, human) 136 xp
- Nate (human) 132 xp
- Ollie (fight, strength) 122 xp
- Tienarth (outdoors) 121 xp
- Urgesh (aggressive, action-oriented, outdoors, fight, rages) 126 xp