| Session Date | August 20, 2022 |
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| Player Characters | |
| Base XP Gained | 7543 |
| Player Notes | ZZ's Notes |
The party had escaped the golems by flying and were able to reach a landing room at the top of the iron spiral staircase. The golems could be heard to still be climbing, but the party had a few minutes before they could possibly reach them (in truth, they never actually did, apparently stopping below this level of the tower). Atticus cast a snare on the steps to provide a trap for any golems that did come up. Meanwhile, Mordecai cast find traps and the party continued on.
The party came into a passage that followed the contour of the tower’s outside wall. Mordecai sensed a trap in the floor, which would’ve led to a very long fall indeed. The party opened a door at the end of the hall, revealing a dimly shadowed room with movement of shadowy hounds within. The hounds began to bay but the party was able to shut the door before they could attack. This done, Han used his wand to create a passwall to the south to bypass the hounds.
The opening revealed a throne room of sorts. It was constructed of elaborately carved stone of fine quality and rich colors. Numerous statues of old Lormyrrian emperors stood around the place, while Mordecai detected numerous pit traps throughout. Sitting atop a mahogany chair on a low dais sat a middle-aged man with a serene and dignified aspect. He did not react with hostility but instead hailed Hans who was facing him. They spoke for some time, with the apparent Wizard Gold seemingly more interested in conversation than aught else. He made a vague offer to the party to join him, which they declined. He seemed oddly distant at times, mentioning how he was the true power in Andorland and beyond (not the Giant King, who he seemed to view with borderline contempt). During this time, Atticus entered the room and began to move obliquely towards him.
After a few minutes of this, Bel leapt into the passwall breach and made to fire her bow at the wizard. But she was a little too slow, as he cast a death spell, dropping the elf before she could fire. Hans and Atticus rushed him, while Jarrik grabbed Bel’s dropped arrow. Something invisible bit Hans from behind quite hard. The Ranger shot Bel’s arrow at the wizard, and the arrow of slaying struck him true, killing him instantly. The invisible biter apparently vanished with his death.
The party soon discovered a secret door behind the throne, which opened to reveal three chests, all of which were trapped. Atticus managed to successfully cast dispel magic on the one magic trap, while Burt used an unseen servant to set off the other two mechanical traps (both gas traps). Once the gasses had cleared, the chests were opened to reveal a modest amount of monetary treasure and a rather large number of potential magic items. Not having any identify spells available, the party decided to test them out in a more mundane way. Unfortunately, a bag turned out to be a bag of Devouring which, when Atticus put his arm deep into it, swallowed him whole! A dagger that ZZ picked up was cursed and made him attack Hans, nearly killing him before he could be restrained. A girdle turned Jarrik into Jarrika much to his/her dismay. Later, a ring and gauntlets taken by Jarrika turned out to also be cursed, though at first they seemed useful (they were a ring of weakness and gauntlets of fumbling,,,as Scott said, “This week on Jackass!”). ZZ cast true seeing to conduct a thorough search of the throne room. He did find a secret door, but the party decided not to investigate it further.
With such severe losses, the party decided to flee Castle Gold to regroup and recover. Hans used his wand to create another passwall out to what he believed would be open space. In fact, the opening led directly onto the roof of the great Keep which was battlemented and manned by numerous of the purple-clad battleaxemen of foreign look. The guards were unaware of the party which allowed them to fly out over the courtyard, displaying the head of Gold as they flew off to the northwest.
They were swiftly pursued by a pair of the red-eyed ravens, though these hung back out of danger from the party. From behind them, the party could hear alarms sounding, soon followed by the howls of wolves. When they reached the forest to the northwest of the castle, Hans was dropped off and ambushed the ravens, slaying them easily with magic missiles. But now new shrieks of a hideous nature sounded form the air and began to grow closer. Clearly the hunt was up for the party. They debated finding high ground to set up a defensive position but realized that all of Castle Gold was stirred up. They did take a few minutes to try to question the head of Gold but, to ZZ’s realization, the head seemed to not be an actual dead body. By this point, the party was coming to realize that this was not Gold at all but some sort of fake or simulacrum. With that knowledge and an estimate of the power the real Gold would have to possess to create the thing, the party decided that fleeing from the area completely was probably wiser.
So, with a potion of flying and their flying carpet, the survivors fled all the way to Sarkum, reaching it that evening. Here they were grudgingly welcomed by its lord and rested for three nights, using the time to identify magic items, write spells in their books, heal, and otherwise contemplate what they would do next.