Tower of Talon Pass

The location for the company's second adventure.

History
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Treasures Within
The Safekeepers are looking for the Jade Chalice on behalf of a collector in Fallcrest.

Chapter 1: First Aid
Our company of intrepid adventurers entered the ruined tower to find a party of orcs recovering from a recent battle. We set ourselves upon them and easily defeated them and thier guard snakes.

Piles of corpses were at each entrance to the chamber. We had three options on our next route. An immeadiate door, piled with bodies, a great sealed door with the word "DON'T" in some dragonic language written on it, and a secret passage we found in the main chamber. Sensing adventure and long forgotten treasure, we proceeded down the secret passage into the dark.

Chapter 2: Mitas Spooks the Spooks
Coming out of the pitch black passage, we entered a barracks that contained two undead creatures. Veldrin tried reasoning with them after concluding they were being bound there by some force. While Veldrin was learning how to free these creatures and perhaps become thier new master,



Mitas sprang up on to the table they had gathered around to perform an interpretive dance. His clumsy dance moves were considered an act of aggression by the wights and they retreated to another chamber. At this moment, the door to the secret passage began to close behind us. Cyldrak and Caramon were on the other side still. Caramon leapt through the closing door with the aid of his trusty Bootsies. Cyldrak failed to leap through, but Malzeer's quick thinking and grappling hook saved the day and pulled him through unscathed.

We explored the room and found little. We made a tactical desicion to move through the doors on the far side of the room. A debate arose between Caramon and Malzeer on how best to open the door. Reasoning that an element of surprise was always good, we voted for finesse. Malzeer the Unseen picked the door's lock with stealth and ease. As soon as the door began to open, Caramon attempted to boot Malzeer through the unlatched door. This failed spectacularly as Malzeer was far too quick for the brutish warrior. A pack of zombies were waiting on the other side of the door.

The fight agasint the zombies and wights was an intense back and forth. It raged in the darkness with missed attacks and hard landing blows. Only Veldrin and his stanky wizard eyes could make out the fiends in the darkness.



Seeing that the darkness was not our ally, Mitas flanked to an alternate entance and ingenously tied a sunrod to an arrow and illuminated the room from a safe distance. After a fantastic combo attack from Malzeer and Mitas, one of the Wights were felled. This did not last however, as the remaining foe raised it from beyond. Unwaivering, the heroes stood strong and pressed the attack, putting the wights down and finally giving them eternal peace. After the battle, the party found a door locked from the outside. Caramon kicked down the final door, tripping an explosive trap. a sign landed at his feet: "DON'T"

Chapter 3:  The orc dies in your arms."Can I loot his corpse?"
We progressed through the door, stepping carefully over the pile of dead kobalds in the doorway. We came upon a lone orc that had fled form us previously, under fire from kolbalds on an elevated position. Veldrin attempted to convince him that we were a rescue party here to save him and thier battered war party. The orc fell for the ruse and attempted to join us in the hall way while Caramon would provide a diversion. The orcs misunderstood and just made a run for it and fell to a barrage of fire from the kobolds above.



We engaged the  kobolds directly. Caramon improvised a harpoon with his javelin and a length of hempen rope. He impaled a kobold with it and pull it down to the ground. Veldrin finished it off with a perfect chaos bolt, vapourizing both the kobold and the makeshift harpoon.in the process. Cyldrak expertly manuevered his spirit bear companion to corner a kobold slinger, forcing him to unload his lethal cargo before it could be delivered to the group at large.

Fell under attack by another flask throw kobold. We turned his thrown projectiles back at him, resulting in a gooey, sticky, noxious mess. We quickly dispatched him and his reinforcements.

Searching the area, we found a secret passage at the end of the ledge and proceeded through the door.

Chapter 4:  The Lights at the End of the Tunnel
Entering the small secret chamber, we saw a pair of glass coffins with a glowing golden light inside, a small chest, and a pit seperating us from both. Veldrin ordered Mitas to search the floor in front of him for traps, pressure plates and the like. After Mitas sounded the "all clear", Veldrin moved towards the coffins to check for magical traps.

Although not entirely confidant in the elf's judgement, Veldrin began to step through the room. No sooner had he started walking, he heard a *click* and a whirling spinning pillar of bladed death spun towards him. He couldn't move out of the way in time, but Caramon leapt in to action and saved Veldrin from having his hands diced off.

While the pillar spun around the room, Malzeer started to activate a wall plate he found that looked like it was connected to the pillar. When he failed to disarm it, Caramon stepped in and drove his gouge into the panel, stopping the vicious dynamo.

Malzeer unlocked the chest and distributed the wealth from it. Veldrin looked down the pit with his darkness piercing vision and the group formulated a plan to plumb the depths. First, Veldrin tired a rock to his rope and used it to judge the ddepth of the water. This was greeted with the sound of an indignant snort from below. Our curiousity piqued; Mitas was volunteered to be lowered down into the hole by a rope to put his nature skills to use.

After a precarious process, Mitas came to the bottom of the cavern and found a huge hoard of gold and treasure. A hoard also occupied by a dragon that just took notice of this intruder. Mitas signaled for us to lift him, and we obliged. Reporting back to us, we thought it best to access the hoard by other means, later.

Examining the glass coffins yielded little information. Veldrin decided to pierce the coffin with his dagger in hopes of absorbing whatever magical properties the coffin held. A screaming ghost fled its glass prison and ripped through Veldrin, sending him into another vision of the past - An evil mage was forcing combatants to fight to the death in an arena. This knocked Veldrin out for an hour. Upon regaining consciousness, Caramon attempted to break the other casket, but failed miserabely. Veldrin repeated his piercing skills and a second ghastly apparition streaked through both Veldrin and Caramon. This time both party members witnessed an evil mage laughing maniacally as a horde of skeletons bore down on a bloodied warrior, just as the skeletons were about to strike the fighter down they snapped out of it. After recovering from these effects, the group left the chamber.

Chapter 5: Follow that Kobold!
Entering the previous room again, we see a kobold run through a previously hidden door carrying something that appeared to be dark green. Thinking this object could be the goblet, we chased the savage into a decommishoned mine shaft. The kobold jumped into a mine cart and pushed off, trying to outrun the party. Acting fast, the Safekeepers picked up a capsized cart, righted it on the tracks and started after him. Mitas decided that his great vision would be best utilized in the front of the cart, working the break with his dainty, yet precise, elf fingers. The rest of the party pushed the cart off and climbed in. Syldrak sat down in the cart, unresponsive. His pupils were very dialiated and glassy. Little did the party know, he was in a Shaman spirit trance. To remain a conduit between the mortal realm and the ether, he must meditate or he risks losing the delicate hold he has upon his spirits.

Before anyone could try to snap Syldrak out of his state, the tracks started to twist and turn. The shaft itself was low with stalagtites and support beams. With Mitas' expert eye, the group leaned into the turns and ducked most of the obstacles save for a shorter beam that caught the drow sorcerer in the jaw, bringing him to a knee. He shook it off and stood up, more aware then before. As the party was ducking and leaning, they heard a noise from behind them. A kobold riding bareback on a giant weasle. Shocked at what he was witnessing, Malzeer fired 2 well placed bolts into the beasts eyes, felling him and causing the weasle to topple end over end, crushing the kolbold.

Without anymore distractions the party caught up to the kobold when the tracks merged into one. Malzeer decided to toss his grappling hook onto the cart ahead and steady the carts to climb aboard. The 2 humans leapt fearlessly into the kobolds cart, Caramon landing a harsh blow on the kobold, rocking him harshly and almost severing his hand, it was hanging by mere tendens. Before the kobold could get his footing, Veldrin, nursing a headache, fired off a massive Chaos bolt, disintergrating the kobolds body, save for his hand. In that hand was a Jade figurine. Malzeer hit the brakes on the cart and it rolled to a stop. Malzeer put the figurine it in his pack, thinking it could be useful. Mitas, thinking the same about the cart handbrake, broke it off and put that in his backpack, next to some table legs. The party, slighty disappointed by the figurine, carried on towards a light at the end of a short tunnel,

Chapter 6: The Pitfalls of Adventure
Leaving the mineshft, the Safekeepers see the entrance to a room containing two kobolds on guard. Mitas throws the bloody kobold helm and Veldrin shouts out to the guards that they are to drop thier arms and surrender. This only succeeds in scary the vermin off into the next room, through a curtain.

Malzeer spots a ledge 10' above us that looks to lead into the other room. He climbs up and sees our targets fleeing. He fixes his rope to a bolt and fires the makeshift harpoon into the furthest kobold. He then flicks the rope to wrap a loop of it around the other fleeing beast. Hearing this commotion, Caramon and Syldrak join the fray. Caramon steps over the debris in the centre of the room, leading Veldrin to believe that it was safe. Malzeer uses his rope as a zip-line and shoots at his prey mid-air with his hand crossbow, hitting his mark with ease.

We find out the room also contained more kobolds and 4 statues which breathe fire balls on any who pass too close. Mitas and Veldrin entered the room and laid down ranged fire, cutting down one of the newly discovered kobolds.

Mitas retreated to the first chamber, only to discover a kodold Wyrm Priest and his lackey had entered while we were out. The elf engaged these foes, injuring them severely. As the battle raged on, each of the Safekeepers cut thier foes down, all the while dodging fireballs. Only the wyrm priest was left standing, high up on a ledge. Veldrin saw his chance to finish this once and for all. He activated his Gloaming armour and turned invisible, walking around the statue and over the debris collected in the middle of the room. The floor gave way, dropping him into a pit of razor sharp spikes tipped with poison.



Thinking quickly, Veldrin pulled a scrap of parchment from his pouch. On it was written an incantation for the spell "Spacial Trip" a teleportation spell he recovered from the library in Kiris Dahn.  Veldrin transported himself to the edge of the pit and rolled himself; invisible, bloody and poisoned over to Syldrak the shaman. Malzeer loaded his sharpest bolt and fired into the Wyrm Priest, silencing the battle, except for the sickly sound of Veldrin's laboured breathing.

Caramon searched the room and found that one of the statues washolding a stone chest in its hands. He chopped the hands and chest free of the statue and Malzeer picked the lock. The chest contained gold and gemstones, as well as a magical amulet. There's no word yet on if defiling a statue and stealing its chest will have any cost beyond a fireball in the face.

Chapter 7: I Think This is What Pain Feels Like!
Venturing deeper into the ruins, we came to a room containing a tent-like curtain, a statue, and 2 arbalesters. Caramon heaved Syldrak out of the stairwell, into the room.



The walls were adorned by tapastries displaying heraldry and a scene depicting soldiers walking up a magical shaircase towards a fortress.

A drake was not far from us, and Malzeer hatched a brilliant plan to drug the beast with some nightshade dust. He approached it with hand outstreched and once close, the drake swooped at him, knocking the dust back into his own face.

We engaged the drake, while another appeared from behind the tent. Malzeer shot the pin holding the tent up, leaving it to collapse in a pile of cloth. Mitas used a hit and fade tactic, taking down one of the drakes. Caramon and Veldrin were targeted by the now-active arbalesters. Veldrin failed to take out his nearest drake and instead moved towards an arbalester, hopi

ng to disable or control one. Caramon attacked the flitting and fluttering forms under the collapsed tent with his gouge, beheading one, and send the head to Veldrin's feet.

Malzeer started to examine the other arbalester, only to find it wasn't controlled mechanically.



The device turned on him and for the first time, Malzeer was riddled full of holes and left bloody. Syldrak brought his spirit bear in to help out and healed Malzeer and hopefully provide a screen for him. Veldrin started to examine the arbalester for arcane properties and found it was magical in nature. His concentrated and began to wrest control of it from whatever it called master. Caramon, Syldrak, and Mitas finished off the other ar

balester and the remainder of the drakes as Veldrin took control of his arbalester. It spoke to him in his mind, and with some experimentation, he leanred to control it and even move it. He had it train its aim on the door's lock and cleared the way for the next hall.

Chapter 8: Role Reversal
Moving through dark passages, the Safekeepers found themselves deciding between multiple doors. Figuring that they must lead into the same space, the party split and burst into the adjoining room simultaniously to discover the room what empty.

Mitas and Malzeer scouted out the rooms ahead, while Veldrin, Lester, and Syldrak took up defensive postions at the opposite end of the chamber. Caramon, waited on the steps, sharpening his gouge, uninterested in the seemingly mundane rooms. Veldrin felt a sense that something was very wrong in this space as Mitas entered a nearby bedroom. All the doors in the area exploded open violently as ghouls and a wraith ambushed us.

Mitas and Malzeer had thier work cut out for them, as they were cast into the role of front-line bruisers. Caramon, oblivious to the attack in the next room, sat on the steps until Veldrin imformed him of the situation, and ordered him to action, under threat of arbalester bolts. Mitas took the brunt of the undead attacks untill a timely rescue by Syldrak and Malzeer. Mitas also managed to ignite the ghoul with a deadly combination of oil and a lit torch, sending the beast screaming.

Veldrin chose to avoid direct confrontation with the enemy, and had Lester attack in his stead. Caramon engaged the wraith. Even weakened by the necrotic blows it dealt, he cut the wraith down to nothing with his gouge. Syldrak kept the thief and ranger alive through thier bout with the shambeling cadavers with the aid of his spirit beast.

Chapter 9: Black Dragon Moan - A Caustic Tale
Doubling back out of the ruined quarters, the party moves down a rough hall where they had previously spotted coins pressed into the path. The path opened into a dark cavern. We could here the sound of water and see some faint light coming from a shaft in the ceiling. Veldrin, Mitas, and Syldrak scouted the room with thier darkvision and low light vision for the lesser creatures. Stepping further into the room revealed we were not alone.



A 10' tall, young black dragon stood in the corner of the room, the same that Mitas had spotted when we lowered him into the well. After a brief debate, Veldrin took charge and attempted to reason with the dragon in order to get the artifact we sought without battle. The dragon turned out to be a simple creature and reacted to Veldrin's airtight deception with misguided hosility.

With battle upon us, we took our positions around the foul beast. Mitas held the furthest corner, Veldrin and Lester kept the pool of water between them and the dragon, Syldrak and Malzeer moved into tactical positions, and Caramon went for a swim in the pool. This caused bright spirits to erupted from the depths, acending to the cavern roof, lighting the chamber for all.



Caramon sprang from the water, swing his gouge at the dragon's back. The dragon responded by blasting everyone in the vicinity with its acid breath, stunning us with the ferocity of the attack. Syldrak and his spirit giraffe engaged it and started tending to the initial fallout from the dragon's wrath. Once recovered, Veldrin and Lester layed down a hail of bolts and chaotic fire, culminating in a radient chromatic orb that sent the creature staggering and bloody. Malzeer used his grappling hook and tied down the dragon from flight, sending a well aimed quarrel into the eye of the dragon. Caramon took a piece off off its hide while parrying blows from razor sharp claws and sweeping tail. Mitas marked the dragon and stayed well out of range of the breath, tail, and claws. His hindering shot flew through the leathery wings and grounded the dragon as Malzeer took credit for the final blow.



We immediately set upon the remains and divvied up the pieces. Carmon sliced the head off and draped it over his back. Malzeer expertly extracted the acid glands. Veldrin pried 2 claws and some scales with his dagger. Mitas and Syldrak assisted by using thier knowledge of animal anatomy to make sure the corpse looters didn't rupture the wrong organ. Lastly, Caramon removed the dragon's reproductive organs for some unholy purpose..

Searching the dragon's hoard, we found magical items, a golden flute, and various mundanae.

Chapter 10: Safekeepers, Statue Inspectors for Hire
Not ones to rest on our laurels, we moved out of the cavern and found the previous room had caved in, likely due to Veldrins unfettered power. We came upon a room with statues arranged around it, and an imp in one side. Veldrin, Malzeer, and Syldrak attempted to convince the wily little imp that they were statue inspectors here to investigate the state of the tower's statue supply.

The bluff didn't get past the little bastard, and the fight was on!

The statues turned out to be animated iron guardians, and we quickly fell into battle stations and took them down. The imp teleported around and evaded us, but it eventually was brought down and evaporated into a pile of dust, which Veldrin gathered up and stashed in his pockets.

The room had a staircase with a magical barrier that dispelled with the imp's demise. At the top of the stairs, taperesies hung detailing the fights and lives of various gladiators from the distant past. Two faces stood out though: Veldrin and Caramon were featured in one work, fighting skeletons for the amusement of many spectators.

Taking note of the grisly scene, we carried onward to find the fate of our prize and to unravel the mystery of the evil mage ands his fighting pits.