At some point in the night I realize that Lucien is no longer on the floor that we are sleeping on. I go downstairs and I find him slumped over looking very sick and clutching his book. He motions to his water which he finishes quickly when I bring it to him. His book is filled with memories of many people and he tells me that he considers it a curse that is necessary in order to gain the knowledge he seeks. I bring him more water. " The tower has always been mastered by very important and powerful men." He tells me. He thinks that there must be portals in the tower linked to ancient armies and wars.
I think that the sickness that came upon him so quickly must have to do with the fact that he was trying to learn of the secrets of the Tower which is clearly well defended by some dark magic. With these thoughts weighing heavy I decide to settle down to rest finally.
After our rest Lucien and Vulash go downstairs to check on the trap that they set. they find nothing. Timbo and I look at the skeleton and the bronze box that are fused into the door. they are deeply embedded in the stone and will not come freeI do not know how they were put there.
We investigate the stone walls of the room that we are in. Osaiya notes it must not have been made by human hands, for there are no seams to be seen between the blocks. We moved to open the next-door and into the next stairwell. Before climbing up, Vulash observes that it looks exactly like the other stairways.
At the third step, a glowing skull, just like the ones at the bottom of the tower, appears. It descends and Vulash swings his axe at it but it moves through him and it flashes, momentarily blinding him. At the fourth stair, another skull descends and he dodges it and stays to the side. On the fifth step another skull comes towards Osaiya and hits her, momentarily blinding her and catches her breath.
Vulash takes off running up the stairs three more skulls hit Osaiya. She dodges and I see one coming at me and then…… Nothing.
I wake up to Lucien giving me a potion. I am not used to such bad luck! Lucien blasts the skull and we take a short rest. When we get to the top of the stairs, the door has a bronze skeleton with a skull sized hole. Terrifying and intriguing.
The next room is domed eith pillars raining it and a high-backed throne in the center. The throne back is a serpents head and I curiously walked towards it. When I get close and tap it with my staff, a large bulbous-bodied maggot creature comes out from behind. We kill it, but Osaiya is troubled by it’s seeming discontinuity with the serpent theme of the tower. We notice that some parts of the throne are waxy and others are oily. In a small compartment in the back of the throne, we find a small box with gems and a potion of healing.
Vulash moves for the next staircase. Osaiya notices that some of the steps be be traps if depressed. Timbo disables the trap and we move up to the next room. WE Are face to face with a man who stands behind a wall of snakes. Three skeletons stands guard around the room. We fight and defeat Kelaklith. He must have spent too much time with snakes, because he seems to look like one himself. Even after he has fallen, the skeletons mov for us of their own volition. We , such a worthy band of warriors, kill them as well.
We find a trunk full of gems, an amulet, boots, and the cube. But the cube has 6 cylinders missing from each of its faces. A pile of papers, uninteresting to me, but seem to show evidence of summons to the great powers of Thule, but needing to power the components of astral focus (this is what Lucien and. Osaiya tell me so I take their word for it ).
Lucien seems to have lost a few of his marbles, he seems to want to move in….
Where will the next adventure take us?